Bite the Bullet = New Attitude!

To "bite the bullet" is to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation that is seen as unavoidable. (From January 2015). I am coming to realize that praying for God to change you, whatever it may be, is going to take you through a process that isn't easy. I've always heard, don't pray for patience, you're going to be tested. But whatever area in your life you're struggling with, if you pray for God to change you, you'll be tried and tested. For me, I've always struggled with my attitude. Believe it or not I get easily frustrated and I am not always smiles and laughs. I know like many others, I tend to let my frustrated, short attitude stay at home in where I take it out on my family, and I don't want to be that way. As 2014 ended and 2015 begin, my attitude is what I've been praying for God to change when it comes to not only my family, but maybe rude people in public, when I am checking out in stores, how I react with church family and friends when we mess up, because hey we're all human. I say this, if you pray for God to change your attitude get ready for a snowball effect of every situation possible. Here it is the 4th day of 2015, and I am wide awake at 2 am writing this note. Not only has it been messy, rainy weather for the last four days, it has been one trying situation after another. From dealing with rude customers behind me in store lines, cussing and fussing, to trying to clean my room loosing my balance, falling and breaking something (not me but as MoMo calls it one of her "pretties") when I suddenly felt like a child again who was going to get a whooping, trying to write down my prayer requests on my new chalkboard, in which it only fell off the wall a dozen times after trying to put it up, broke my piece of chalk into several pieces, scratched the wall and baseboard (OK devil I am praying anyway), I found a picture frame that I was going to fix up and reuse only to have the glass crack down the middle, I've been dealing with health issues all week, and currently in physical therapy, and then last night I decided to paint my nails after finishing, I realized I hadn't removed the previous clear polish and well it was a mess. I realized I was going to have to get the polish remover and start over. Now in the process of this, purple polish went all over my white bed sheet, rug, me, etc. What a disaster! Well everything is stained up but the rug. The sheet and my gown have seen their better days. ;) As I finished I realized that is what we try to do in our relationship with Christ. We come to Him stained up, but instead of allowing the Lord to wipe our slate clean and start with a new coat of polish, we just want to cut corners and try to cover up our messes. Oh, by the way as I was getting out in the rain this week, my umbrella broke but then I realized a little rain wasn't going to hurt me, it cleanses. Mama needed to do something, but didn't check with me about my schedule, and one of us has to be available to sit with my grandmother. You see a pattern here? By the way, I kid you not, the name of my nail polish was "bite the bullet". It didn't take me long to realize what has been going on this week, and that is I am in the process of God changing my short attitude and frustrations into gratitude and fulfillment. I realized too, how calm I have been through all these mishaps... 2014 slipped out with a blanket of despair over my head. Only a few tears, I have kept silent for the most part and I felt the calm and peace within me, despite the storm going on outside. Now, my outlook continues to change as I realize I can still walk, talk, see, and hear. The blanket of despair has lifted and God has already did some incredible things this week that have let me know, He is behind the scenes working on me and continuing to use me in ways I would've never thought of. And, as He promises, I have my needs met. During these other little issues in life, Lord let me bite the bullet and go on growing in You!

"5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2: 5-11

*The picture attached is the nail polish*