Sorry for MIA

My husband got into town for a suprise visit.... I apologize for the delay in posting.... However it was a nice suprise...... He left today... so I will get back on track......Whenever he comes into town he blows my whole schedule off and it takes a couple of days to get back into my routines.....

Hope all are doing well and have a good night.

Week 1 Day 5

Well, I did lesson 5 today.... I have aknowledged my complaining ways and have asked for repentance....

I have been able to catch myself and redirect myself from complaining about some things.....

I have been choosing to have a positive attitude towards my day. I have also chosen to stand up for myself instead of just grumbling about how people are treating me. I have received some grief from this step but I have also given myself a more positive attitude about how I have handled letting others know that I will no longer allow them to treat me badly.


I am finding my voice and asking God to use it for His purpose..... I can't wait to start week 2 "With a Thankful Attitude" Realizing the amount of complaining, the things in which I complained about did have a negative outlook on my day as well as my attitude. I can say that I'm tired of a complaining way of life and look forward to the change to a thankful attitude with a positive outlook on my day as well as my attitude...... It will be so great to aknowledge God's blessings for me and trusting that He will provide for me as well as what is best for me......

Hope that you are able to chose a positive attitude for your day and life..............I am extremely happy about knowing that I can chose my attitude, that it is not just something that happens to me.


See you in Week 2 Day 1..................."With a Thankful Attitude" and heart.........

Day 4 Lesson Post

Again, I apologize that the post is so late....After reading the lesson, I was exhausted so I went to bed and figured I would finish posting when my grand-daughter took her nap today.

Complainging will just keep the cycle going, I can say that going through this lesson, I am not sure if what I am doing is consider complaining.... I think for me its a desire to improve and trying to find a way to improve my situation.... be it asking God for help, seeking advice from friends and relatives.....I lay out the problem and then ask for help with it.... is it complaining if you feel like your not getting anywhere with the problem and still seeking a solution?

If we look at the laundry situation, I can admit that there is complaining about the amount but I am doing it and its getting less and less. But the feeling of being alone in all my endeavors.... and feeling like I have no one to depend on...... is that really complaining? I know that God is there for me and that He provides for and I am thankful for all that He does for me and I don't expect Him to just give me a life of luxury.... not that it wouldn't be nice but that's not the way it works.

Is doubting yourself but asking for help complaining? These are the questions I have after this lesson. I have prayed and know that God will respond. I have faith that He will provide me with what ever it is He wants me to have as well as what is best for me.

I also am looking forward to the next lesson, maybe it will shed some light on the questions I am having.

Day 5 Catchup Time

I want to apologize that I was unable to post yesterday....I didn't even get to do my study time..... However, my day was filled with joy.... I watch my grand-daughter while her parents work. Yesterday, however, we went to her great- grandparents house and spent the day in the pool. By the time her mother came and picked her up Nonnie was plum wore out and ready for bed.

So I will work on yesterday's lesson and maybe try to fit in today's if not then I will just continue with it a day at a time.... It was a good day to be a Nonnie and have fun with my grand-daughter......

She is now in bed and its my alone time to do what I want for me............Will post lesson information when complete.....

Thank you

Day 3 of the rest of my change Attitude Life

We need to find out what we get out of complaining..... Is there some sort of gratification that we get out of complaining? Going through the lesson tonight, one of the things I realized is that when I complain its so that I can find a way to get the justice I want for whatever the issue is. Now we all know its not our place to dole out justice, so I have to ask for forgiveness and change my behavior.

What is your gratification for complaining?..............My gratification only hurts me because as much as I want to see justice done, I'm not the one that should be judging or deciding what justice is.... That is for God to do.

There was a time in my life that I did have hatred for someone. This was only causing me pain because the person I felt that way towards, not only didn't know but could not do anything to change how I felt. Once I was able to pray to God and tell Him that I was not able to change my feelings or find forgiveness for that person that He had to do it for me, a great big weight was lifted off of me. It took only seconds to feel relief and joy.

I am finding that when I catch myself complaining during the day that if I change my complaining to finding a resolution to the complaint that I feel better. For those things that I cannot find a resolution, I say a quick prayer to remove my ill feelings/complaint from my mouth and heart. It isn't always easy to do, it still is easier to complain than to check myself and redirect. I do find that if I redirect then I have a more positive attitude which is what I want to have.

I am looking forward to the rest of this study it is openning my heart, mind and soul to a more positive outlook on life and its only day 3!

Day 2 continued

Ok, I am back from telling my husband what a wonderful man he is. He is also now going to try and get some sleep he has been working very hard.

We should be thankful for the blessings in our lives and be truly thankful. We all are guilty of saying please God help me with something..... then once He has forgeting and not be thankful for it. The other thing we tend to do is if its a crisis situation we pray and pray until God answers our prayers, and we thank Him quickly but not sincerely. We are like thank you the crisis has been resolved and go about our day as if we should have expected for God to deal with it for us. We continue on our path until the next crisis and find ourselves in the same situation of asking for help but not being truly thankful. We go back to the complaining of all the other things in our life and focus on the negative instead of the positives that God wants for us.

So in closing tonight I want to be thankful for the big things and the little things that not only has God done for me but for what He wants for my life...............

We need to count our blessings more often and not focus on the small stuff that takes away from them.

Day 2 of the rest of my Change My Attitude Life

First, I would like any and all the may follow my blog to know that I am somewhat of a night - owl; therefore I tend to do my personal growth studies in the evenings. Probably should have noted that earlier.

Now on to Day 2 of the Lord, Change My Attitude..........
Going over the lesson I have realized that by complaining about something, I am chosing to have a negative attitude towards that which I am complaining. This also means that for the time spent on complaining I am chosing to have a negative attitude....Just what I am trying to change. The lesson suggests that I make a list of all those things I find myself complaining about. Then take an active role in either finding away to correct the complaint or realizing that I am chosing to be negative about something I have no control over and let it go.

My list of the day goes back to yesterday.....laundry.....boy oh boy do I despise it. However, instead of complaining about it a made a game out of folding and putting the five baskets of it that I had to do. I got thru three of them, one of them actually had to be rewashed..... apparently I did not use enough bleach.......lol.

The really big complaint I have is the feeling of having to do everything all by myself, because my husband is an over the road truck driver. He is not here to share in the household chores that we use to share prior to this new career he has taken on. I can not change his job and he also feels all alone to. So instead of complaining about it, I have decided to make a list of all the benefits I receive because of what he does to support our family. I am able to stay home and take care of our grand-daughter, I am able to work with the Florida SIDS Allaince to help those families that have lost a child to make memorial quilts to honor those babies. I am also able to work on other quilts and teach others to quilt. These are all things that if my husband had a nine to five job that I would not be able to do, because I would also have to work a nine to five job. I much rather do the laundry and dishes, while taking care of my grand-daughter and making quilts that bring so much love and warmth to others.

I have to thank my husband as well because he is constantly telling me he is doing this to give me everything that will make me happy.........He is a wonderful man. Matter of fact, excuse me while I make a quick call to tell him so.

Choose Your Attitude

Each day, hour, minute, we choose what are attitude is going to be. We may let others infleunce our attitudes, but utlimately it is our choice.

How we look at a situation and how we act or react to the situation is our choice. We can chose to have a positive, negative, or even a noncommital attitude. The choice is ours to make.

For me there are two household chores that I despise the most - they are laundry and dishes. I know why they are the worst for me - however the have to be done. I can honestly say that I complain about them the most. So I have decided to change the way I think of these two chores. Instead of thinking that they are neverending. I am going to tell myself that I have no dirty dishes in the sink, which means I have cleaned my kitchen so when I want to fix something I don't have to start off by cleaning it first. It is so much easier and pleasant to start with a clean space to work. As for the laundry again its one of those chores to me that is never ending. I haven't come up with a different outlook on it just yet because of the amount of laundry I have piled up to do. The laundry I have piled up is not just the everyday laundry. We had some misfortunes and I have to do all the clothes in the house, on top of keeping up with the everyday stuff. I can say that a friend has helped me get started on this overwhelming task and it is becoming easier to deal with. I'm trying to look at it like I told another firend its one basket at a time. Once one is done you have the satisfaction of a completed task. Do wish me luck in keeping positive about the laundry though...............it truly is one of my pitfalls.

There are other areas of life that we need to make sure we step back every once in awhile and make sure we are chosing the best attitude towards the situation at hand. Family can be one of those areas that we tend to let slide. We can and usually always take family for granted as well as show our ugly sides to the most. I am having to learn how to set boundries for family memebers. This can be a difficult task. We don't always go about setting those boundries in the most appropiate way. We usually do it with ATTITUDE....... When we should really relax and clamly talk about our feelings and the what and why we need those boundries. If we do it without the ATTITUDE we really can accomplish more.

We also tend to let family dictate how we act, react, and treat each other. We should think more clearly and pray about these situations even more because it is so much easier to lash out at family because they are family.

For years I thought that I was the reason for all my families woes. I thought that if I could just be this or do this better that my family would be happier. It has taken me a very long time to realize I am not the center of my family's hopes, dreams, or their failures. I am only responsible for myself. I can help when it is needed, I can even give support when needed. I am however not their punching bag or the shoulder of all their woes.

By changing my attitude I have found some happiness in this area of my life. I have come up short still and still need some attitude adjustments in this area. Instead of complaining which is a negative way (attitude) of dealing with this; I have reached a point in my life where I can and have started saying "NO" this is not my responsiblity, "NO" it is not what I want and "NO" I am not going to fix this because I can't fix it. It really is empowering changing the way you think, act and react to a situation. Once you are able to change your attitude towards things life gets a whole lot better.

Thank God for the changes in attitude as well as asking Him to change your attitude will bring so many blessings into your life. I have just started this journey of changing my attitude towards things within the past two weeks, thanks to a friend who showed me the how and why I needed to change them. Starting this series "Lord, Change My Attitude" in the past night has also made a huge difference already. Now you may think that its early and I am eager to change and that this will be a fleeting thinf................I can tell you if I can continue to feel like this there is nothing stopping me from changing my attitude, especially since I have asked God to change it for me and not try to do it all alone. He can do anything He is God.

Morning

Good Morning,

I want to start this day with a thankfull heart. Praise the Lord for what He has done for me. After reading part of Chapter 1, I fell asleep and started dreaming about changing my attitude. It was a good and peaceful sleep. I will post my thoughts about Chapter 1 later. It is Father's day, so let me start by telling God Happy Father's Day, because He is the father of all things great and small. I need to go wish my father a Happy Father's Day too.

I have a wonderful outlook for the day and look forward to seeing the change in my life as I go thru this day. For I know that God has opened my heart to receive the changes I want and need that will give me the life he has planned for me.

Hope all Father's have a great Father's Day and remember we chose our attitudes...........I will post more on this later.

Thank you Lord, for this new day and new way of looking at life thru Your Glory.

Intro

Hello, I am going through "Lord, Change My Attitude" by James MacDonald & Barb Peil.
I have read the introduction as requested by the author. I am now into chapter 1: Replace a Complaining Attitude.

I feel that the introduction sets the mood for the study. Goes through the Isrealites going out of Egypt to the promised land and that they do a lot of complaining and how God feels about their complaining and He actions because of the complaining.

It teaches that if we are complaining then we are not being obedient to God's will for us, therefore we can not receive the blessings He has for us.

There are several examples of this in the plight of the Isrealites leaving Egypt and going to the promised land. They send some spies to the promised land to see what is there as well as if they will need to fight any current peoples of the land. Some of the spies come back and say that the people currently there are gaints, and too many for them to defeat and claim the promised land as theirs, which God has told them is theirs. Two of the men come back and report that the land is flowing with milk and honey and that God says its theirs for the taking. The people take a vote (so to speak) and decide that they will not be able to defeat those that currently live there and so they are defeated. Therefore God tells the people that they will have to wonder the desert for 40 years until all those over 20 die in the desert, they will not be allowed into the promised land. There are two exceptions and those are the spies that come back and report their faith in God to deliver them to the promised land.

This is the background for the rest of the book according to the author. Once I have finished Chapter 1 I will post my thoughts.