Grumbling,Mumbling,Stumbling

"It was a sweet feeling. All the work I put in was for that moment. I pictured it playing out that way. It was the best ending I could think of as far as the whole story." -- Cain Velasquez,the new Ultimate Fighting Champion,spoke this after defeating the sport's biggest star in only 4 minutes and 12 seconds.

I am not in the habit of using quotes from fighters and especially from a sport I have no interest in, but I love this quote. How many times have we ever felt of wanting that story book ending, or a story book life? Those of us who are believers in Christ already know we have a story book ending to our lives,one that's eternal. But how about that middle part of each of our stories?

I am sure we all want to succeed in every facet of our lives, and we know that God wants that for our lives as well, but it's what gets in the way of our story from becoming a victorious one: our grumbling and complaining.

How many times have we ever felt like God was short changing us? Or that things aren't going our way, so we must do something because God has no clue as to what He is doing in our life and we feel we can do it better? Now we all know what happens when we do take matters into our own hands and not trust God; we make a mess of it!

I am now finishing up my first year of non-grumbling and complaining. Or should I say, succeeding at trying to make a conscious effort not to complain. I used to be a habitual grumbler and complainer, even when trusting God in certain situations I still found myself complaining. But then I realized that grumbling and complaining is just really accusing God of mismanaging your life.

What is quickly becoming one of my favorite books is Power in Praise
by Merlin Carothers. Here is his take on this subject:

"We can't change ourselves from unbelieving grumblers to thankful, cheerful believers. God has to do the changing. We must decide to stop complaining and start thanking and praising God, it is God's power that works the transformation.
Our job is to keep our eyes on Jesus and thank God for what He is able to do."

I think one of the biggest things we can do when we feel like God is short changing us is to: start loving God more than life itself, and love the person that God has made you to be. And remind yourself of this:

Psalm 139:14:

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well."