That is just a title that makes you feel two things…”What not Me” and “Oooooo….not sure I wanna read that”.
We have days like that don’t we…we don’t want to admit it, but we do and the worse things…when that happens..if we don’t catch it fast…it can get the best of us and the people around us.
Lysa shared that when she is short-tempered and flat-out grumpy, she often doesn’t feel like His prescence, but the truth is that He is always there.
She made another good point that we often forget too: His Grace doesn’st give us a free pass to act out how we feel, with no regard to His commands.
What Grace does is reminds us to learn from the situation, become mature and consolation in the moment, but not to repeat it.
This passage from her book is a great remidner why we need to make sure we don’t let our ugly out:
“Satan delights in our anxiety, anger and frustration, and would love to keep darkness drawn over our hearts and minds. He breeds within our dark ugliness all that is opposite of God’s character: hate, despair, fear, impatience,rudenss,self-centeredness, self-reliance, harshness, and acting out of control.
So what is the cure?
Praise God!
Yes…Praise God, because it drive the enemy OUT!
It was great how Lysa shared how praise pulls back the dark curtains and shares how praise just brings fresh life into our tired souls.
This reminds me of cleaning our homes and opening the windows to let in the fresh air and clear out the musty air in our homes…remember what the difference is like.
The same can be said for our souls and how true that is.
Lysa shared on page 128-129, some key factors to consider when we find our uglies coming out, such as:
- Am I overly tired?
This is especially true if you are a new mother, have several children, maybe there is stress in your life, recovering from sickness, to name a few things. We love to think we are super-women, but we have to take a note from Mary who stopped her work to rest and listen to Jesus in contrast to busy Martha who was on the go.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:39-42, New King James Version)
As Lysa shared, she realized that she isn’t doing anyone, any favors, if she sacrifices her rest and the same goes to the rest of us.
Yes, we have things that must be taken care of, but we don’t serve others, our Father or ourselves well, if we are too tired.
Then there are other factors to consider, such as:
- Am I overcommitted?
It’s the holidays. The busiest time of the year, but in the midst of it all, we can’t forget the true reason for the season, the King of kings was born, Jesus Christ.
How do we better serve Him if we spend our times, overspending it and leaving none to where it truly deserves? With Him?
This is the same for any time of our lives.
When we find ourselves to the point that we are too busy to spend time with Him; To read His word, to pray; We need to put the brakes on, repriortize and rethink what is really more important.
- Have I compromised some of my healthy boundaries lately?
It’s worse if you are a people pleaser, but sometime, it’s actually okay to say no. Think of unanswered prayers and the gratitude that our Heavenly Father doesn’t say yes to everything to us; Imagine the mess we would be in, yet we say yes to everything in our earthly lives despite what it may cost us or our families.
This is something as parents, ourselves, we learn. There are times, if we want our children to grow up to be responsible, healthy, and happy, part of that includes knowing that they can’t always have what they want and have to either earn it or learn to live without it.
- Is there sin in my life I’m avoiding?
Ouch…tough one isn’t it. We don’t like to think it, but it happens doesn’t it. We do something, we know we shouldn’t and rather than confront it, we sweep it under the rug or project it on other people. Lysa shares that “Sin can worm its way into our hearts and affect our minds before we even realize what’s hit us“; That’s not even a comforting thought, but that is true.
Yes we are saved and forgiven, but we are still sinners at heart and still will slip and sin.
She shares what helps all of us do when we have the uglies and along with it the sin bunnies we have swept under the carpet and trying to ignore: To confront our sins and be honest with ourselves and really assess with honesty what part our sin might be playing into a situation.
Too often we may think it’s the other person, but before we judge someone else, we’ve gotta stop and ask ourselves, is there something in us first that we have done and are not being honest to ourselves and to our Heavenly Father about.
It’s freeing to be honest and confessing our own wrong actions because through His forgiveness of us and what we have sinned, we are able to more easily forgive others.
Honestly, it’s hard for us to forgive others, if we cannot forgive ourselves and go before our Heavenly Father and ask forgiveness of ourselves first.
- Do I have things on my calendar to look forward to?
If December is one big red mark, chances are, you have a lot of things to be looking forward to, don’t you? I like this easy solution, because it helps be an instant stress reliever and even if you can’t afford to go out for dinner or even if it’s just church, you can also schedule one night out of the week for say, “Family Game Night” when the t.v. and video games are completely turned off and the family gathers around the table to play board games or maybe, schedule a picnic if the weather allows it, every other Saturday.
This is a great stress reliever for everyone, including yourself and helps with improving family relations that may often be the source for some household, tensions.
The biggest thing that I enjoy about this chapter is the reminder that through praise, we have a powerful arsonel against the “uglies”.
Another suggestion too…is get index cards and write your favorite praise verses on it, laminate it and keep it on a book ring, so when you feel the uglies coming or you’re having a bad day, week, or month, you can pull out your tools of praise and mentally or out loud, shout out praises to our Heavenly Father.
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