Life really has a way of coming around and giving you a swift kick in the rear. This morning at church, life gave me just that.
I went in this early this morning (I cant emphasize on how early it really was) and helped with the parking team for my church. I am one of those crazy people wearing a bright orange vest holding two flags that I move crazily in the air; just to make sure that people know where they are going and where they are headed...hopefully in the right direction. Yep totally out of my comfort zone, but nonetheless the time of my life. So, I was only able to sneak in for the last 30 minutes of church but it was the exact time and place that I needed to be in. I swept into the back seat thinking this would be just another Sunday service, maybe feeling blessed as I left the parking lot. I was wrong. Which is becoming more common as I get older. Church has become the place where I get blessed the most. Paster Peter is in the third part of his series called I QUIT! and it's all about the things in life that can easily take us out; No Sweat, Critiquing, and this week was Complaining. Every week I've felt that Paster Peter was talking straight to me and I was the only one in the auditorium who felt guilty and who wanted to run out because they were sweating too much and people were probably starting to notice the large sweat beads running down my forehead (I'm sure many of you can't relate....). Let me give you a little history to how my last 48 hours have been. I was reminded, again, that the Lord is my sole provider and always will be. Why do I relentlessly forget who my God really is? And every time He proves faithful I feel embarassed but at the same time so humble because my God never forgets me or complains about me. This morning I complained about a circumstance with people in my life to my sister, she listened. But then as I was finishing my story, my sister has a story that she told me about, something else to complain about. It didn't seem like a problem this morning but Paster Peter proved that to be pretty, preposterous-ly wrong. As I sat in the back row of the auditorium, I felt out of place as Pastor Peter started to talk about complaining and how that can be so wrong in our lives. Of course I knew that, it just didn't seem like it was a problem in my life. I was not able to take notes but there is one thing that he said that has stuck with me "We need to get over the things we can't change and change what we can be". The situation that I was dealing with this morning I can't change but I can change my attitude towards it. It truly takes a willing heart and mind to be a Christ-filled person in this life. Also, he said that "The people that we hang around and share life with, are who we become". So, Annie-Laurie, don't hang out with the people that are consistently going to be complaing about life and things that they can't change. I needed to be that for my sister this morning; I will be better...for her and for my friends around me.
From feeling so jaded from the church and what it did to my family; I still learn so much from it.
Blessings to all of you who have overcome obstacles in your life, stopped the complaining and who have chosen to share life with people who care.
