Gratitude over griping.

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. ~ Oprah

A while ago, I noticed that I had started to complain (mostly in my heart) about certain things. The complaining had such a negative effect on my mood & was affecting my outlook on life and even worse, none of the things I complained about changed!

I’m not sure how it started but God called me out on it & gave me a way out. In church one day, the Pastor said God will never partner with complaining & accusation; these are tools of the enemy & our Father never uses the devil’s tools.

When I heard this, I realised my complaining was repelling the help of Heaven in form of ~ the counsel of the Holy Spirit, assistance from angels and a change in my circumstances. Instead, it was opening the door for the enemy to complete the work he had started (‼️).
Steering this ship was my responsibility and the way to do it was to start looking for things to be grateful for (Philippians 4:8) and start to speak them out loud. So I begun thanking God for the little things in the situations that had once frustrated me and with time I could see bigger things to thank Him for.

Like most of us, I would never want to give place to the devil in my life but complaining was one of the ways I had opened the door for him to come and take ground. So every time I found myself wanting to complain, I would ask myself: ‘Whose help do I really need at this time: God’s or the devil’s?’ and use my mouth to attract the right one.
As I did this over time, I stopped being stressed out and actually started to feel happy. I started to see more in my life to celebrate and the situations that once made me gripe either changed or didn’t matter so much anymore.

We will all have valid concerns that we need to talk about and the difference between doing that and complaining is the state of our heart. If we repent and first look for what to praise, it’ll change our heart’s position from one of accusation to a heart of appreciation. It’s from this place of appreciation that we can present our concerns to God in a way that elicits His ear and help. 

So from now on, it’s gratitude over griping; all day everyday.