This Day With God – A Spiritual Journey

Handling Frustration 

Nothing in life is going to be perfect but you can set out for perfection and by seeking perfection, you obtain the highest level of accomplishment. Situations will come about that block your plans and frustration sets in. When it does, don’t take anything personal, stay calm, and maintain composure.

I remember putting together a new office chair. At first it was difficult but once I set things up so the parts were in position and could mesh together, it was rather easy. It’s the same no matter what you do. At home, at work, or performing in sports, once you can put yourself at the right place at the right time, it works much better. Christ always puts us in the right place and time to bring victory in our life.

In sports, a game can turn because of a penalty. An example is like when a player retaliates to an opposing player that picks a fight at the end of the play. The player that retaliates is usually the one that gets penalized because the referee may not have seen what started the discord. Many outcomes in the game of football change as a result of a 15 yard roughing penalty. The response to anger changed the whole game and the same is true if you retaliate against someone in life because they have done you wrong.

In my pastor’s sermon one time, he talked about how Troy Aikman, the Hall of Fame quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990’s was a little depressed after the teams third Super bowl in just five years. The reason was because there was nothing more for him to accomplish. He had three super bowl rings and had accomplished all that he could have dreamed of.  My pastor went on to say that the thing about faith is that God always has more for you to hope for and to accomplish.

If your plans don’t always work out perfect, there can be a sense of despair or even depression that sets in. The Bible says in Isaiah 43:18 to “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past”. If you make a mistake, just make a mental note of it, use it as a lesson learned, and go on. Remain optimistic and make positive plans for the future.  Use the experiences of the past and learn from them in order to avoid making mistakes in the future.

Discover Your Strength to Gain More Peace

Every day you have a chance to learn more. Even in the mundane tasks of some days, you can be optimistic because you can have faith that God is with you to make changes for the better so don’t worry, be happy and be content with whatever the circumstances. In the bad times, you receive strength and peace. In the good times you receive joy but also humility because you give credit to the Lord.

Maintain the faith and accept that things will not always be perfect but with God on your side, there ultimately will be perfection. He provides the strength and ability you need to live victoriously. You can have confidence because God is with you and whatever happens in life is for a purpose.

Have you ever gone to a sporting event and sense from the crowd that their team would win even when the score was close? They believed in their team and there was no thought of losing. It’s called confidence and that is what winners have. They just believe they will pull it out.

When my daughter was in elementary school, they would have these track days usually at the end of the school year. They always ended the competition with a tug of war. One year she had this strong person on her team. The first time they tried it, the strong person was at the front of the rope and they lost.

Then someone suggested that the strong person should be situated at the end of the rope. They won every time this strong person was in this position because it gave the team momentum and the extra leverage they needed to win. It’s the same with Christ on your team; you have confidence, the extra leverage, and momentum that brings victory for your future.

As you face the internal tug of war between good and evil, let Jesus Christ provide the momentum. Here is a link to accept the perfect plan … God’s Plan for Us. Believe each day is going to turn out better than yesterday and there are no limits to what you can accomplish.

Maintain hope in difficult times with confidence because God can bring comfort through the kindness of another person or inspire you with a glorious sunrise, sunset, or rainbow. Daily go to Him for direction and let Him direct each step you take. If adjustments are needed, use the experiences of your past as stepping stones and the Bible as your road map. Then courageously take action to follow the instructions received. Believe God is faithful to fulfill His promise of a future with victory, peace, and rest.

Discover Contentment 

Decisions of the past are not always the best ones but you must let go of the past. As you continue on the journey of life, there are more things you can fall back on to help you make decisions because you have more memories, more information from books you have read, and more experiences you have gone through. Take in the lessons learned, make the necessary adjustments, and keep going. The following story demonstrates how costly it can be when giving up.

Two men went west during the gold rush in the 1800’s. After weeks of hard work, they discovered a mine. They needed equipment and went back to Maryland to talk to relatives and friends. They got together enough money for the equipment and headed back to Colorado. Things were going good and they only needed about one more car load of gold to pay off their debts.

They were almost at the point when they would start making big profits but something happened. The vein of gold disappeared! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again. Finally, they decided to quit. They sold the machinery to a junk man and took the train back home.

The junk man had an idea. He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine who gave good advice. He advised to dig three feet over. That was exactly where the vein of gold was found! The junk man took millions of dollars in gold from the mine because he knew enough to get help from an expert before giving up.

The story doesn’t stop there. Mr. Darby, one of the men who quit on the gold mine learned his lesson. Remembering that he lost a huge fortune because he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his future work of selling insurance. He became one of only a few men during that time to sell over a million dollars in life insurance annually. It wasn’t always easy selling insurance but he never gave up and owed his stick ability to the lesson he learned from his quit ability in the gold mining business.

There is a vein of gold out there my friend if you keep on digging. God’s Word is a treasure for your soul. If you want to be content, work on your relationship with God, believe that you will receive God’s favor, and expect your future to be bright.

Apply your faith by seeing a picture of success and help others as you work together; trust God for peace of mind, abundant joy, and rewards beyond measure.  Things will not always be peaches and cream but you can live in peace and find contentment by being on God’s team.

There are tools you can use as you mine for your treasure. At this link is a check list for you to go through this week to discover how you currently handle time frustration. The objective is to stimulate your thinking so you can make the needed adjustments to make your situation better.

The Truth will Set You Free 

The enemy provides you with false time savers. To do things yourself because if you rely on others, there will be too many errors. With this thought in mind, you will be unable to delegate because of the fear that things will not be done perfectly.

Remember that while here on earth, Christ had 12 disciples who worked together to spread the Good News and followers today continue to spread the Good News. The Holy Spirit works with Christians today as the Bible states in Matthew 18:20, for where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Many scriptures talk about teamwork. As stated in Romans 12:5, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

The enemy also wants you to not work as a team and cut corners. He wants you to skip a process instead of taking the time to do things the right way. Overcome the enemy by simplifying and unifying.

Like a magnet attracting iron, you will attract treasures for the soul because the elements of God’s principles are at work in you. So do things the right way even if others seem to get ahead by taking short cuts. The people that always come out on top in the long run are the ones that do things the right way. Not by works but by His will for His purposes.

The enemy prefers that you work alone but you can step ahead by being open to ideas from others and communicating your need for working together. Think of a pack of wolfs. They howl and bark to communicate to one another as they work together to hunt food. They are very social animals as they stick together; sharing as partners throughout life.

If you think about geese, they fly in a “V” shape in order to fly more efficiently. They can switch positions and give their fellow flying mate a chance to rest from the wind resistance.

The lesson is to invest a little time in someone else and teach them so they can cover for you or continue your mission someday. Continue to remember how Jesus appointed the twelve disciples so that more people could be helped and the Good News message could spread at a faster rate. A lot of planning and organization went into the ministry.

All believers can stand together as team members and nothing can defeat us if we walk God’s path side by side. The Christian life should be like a relay; helping each other, feeding spiritual food to the soul, and using the talents God meant each of us to use. When individuals celebrate their uniqueness yet find a common purpose so that individual talents are blended together in a picture of unity, then we have something.

In the book “Treasures of the Transformed Life”, John Ed Mathison points out that a winning team is set apart because they’re willing to help each other. The individual members are willing to step back and let someone else with greater skills and abilities step forward to accomplish the task. Because of Christ, Christians are given the Holy Spirit and each individual can give and receive strengths to build up the body of Christ. Personal performance then becomes team confidence and excellence is the result.

I read other Christian blogs for inspiration daily. Here is a link to one example that gives some good ideas on overcoming worry and finding peace: Let Christ Bear Your Burdens. I’ll end with a prayer called the Serenity prayer:

Lord, grant me the serenity
To accept what I can’t change,
The strength to change what I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.