“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”
Psalm 103:1 (NIV)
Last time we were together, we talked about the first two steps one can use to turn a bad day into a beautiful experience. They were sitting in God’s presence and worshipping Him through prayer. Today I want to continue by talking about the final three steps for turning a defeated day into a victorious one.
The third step is one that I have been practicing regularly for the past two to three years. Choosing to name the blessings God gives instead of dwelling on the obstacles. This can be done in many different forms: A blessings journal, simply naming different blessings aloud, or whatever form you choose. I remember distinctly one particular summer. We had a bad storm and our electricity went out and the job I did from home was affected by a power grid on their end, so I wasn’t able to work all week, 4th of July week, finding me playing catch up on the actual holiday. In addition, we had a dentist appointment that day and discovered several cavities we were going to have to pay for as well as our generator dying. I was irritated, frustrated and just plain mad. I made the choice to thank God for the blessings He gave despite the obstacles that were staring me in the face. It changed my outlook and turned the whole experience into one I look back on with thanksgiving now instead of anger.
The fourth step is to repent of the part you played in creating the atmosphere for a bad day. While God is full of grace and expects His children to make mistakes, He still wants us to acknowledge our part and ask Him for help. I admit – I’m getting much better at this step. I used to hide from God when I messed up, hoping to improve before coming back to Him, thinking He would love me more that way. What a waste of my time and His! He wants to help me fix the mess I get into just like I want to help our kids fix the messes they find themselves in. Any loving parent wants to help their children learn from their mistakes.
The last step flows into what I shared above. God wants us to use our bad days as a stepping stone to maturity. What did we learn from the experience and how can we do things differently so that the same things don’t keep occurring?
I can’t promise that using these steps will eliminate all bad days from ever occurring (we do live in a sinful world). I pray these steps will help you grow closer to God so that when the bad days do occur, you have tools available to help keep those days from totally defeating your spirit.
© Cheri Swalwell 2016