Unshackled Moments ~ January 20 ~ Now Look What You've Done

It's happened to me before, and it happened again today, that now look what you did moment. We've all had them, and it always seems to make things worse. Something goes wrong, we react badly or make a poor choice in how to deal with the situation, and then someone, or maybe even we ourselves, comes out with the dreaded now look what you've done, or some variation that means the same thing.

It happened to me yesterday when I got a tractor stuck in a creek bottom. I grabbed a chain and another tractor and tried to pull it out. No go. It wasn't moving. I got frustrated, backed up to get some slack in the chain and attempted to jerk the struck tractor loose from the mud. POW! The chain snapped. For one second I felt drained, calm and a little broken. That's a good place to be, believe it or not. It means I'll stop long enough to see that I need to change course before things get worse. I need to get calm and let God have control of my emotions and the situation. I need to stop and think.Then after that brief window where things could make a turn for the better inside me, even though they're worse on the outside, an annoying voice inside my head said those heartbreaking words. Immediately my anger returned. I wanted to throttle that voice.

We all do it from time to time. Someone isn't handling something the way they should, the way we know would be better because we're at least a little more detached from the situation or they're just not doing it the way we want them to, and they make things worse. Even when we're able to resist saying it, we can't stop the thought from coming. Now look what you've done. You've made things worse than they were before! And, since most of human communication is non-verbal, the other person sees it. They react even worse. They get defensive. They get angry. Or they fall apart and feel even more foolish or stupid. They feel worthless. We feel the same when it happens to us. It's human nature, both the giving and the receiving of that condemnation and scorn.

The good new is that our Heavenly Daddy doesn't do that to us. Ever. He never says See! I knew you would blow it. You always get that way. He never points out how we've failed again and made things worse. Jesus never said now look what you've done. He says Come to me. Let me hold you and comfort you until you can calm down and hear me. Then, when we're in a better place emotionally He shows us what we can learn from the situation, how to go on from that point and make things right and better. He doesn't knock us down for failing, He says I never expected you to do this on your own. My grace is sufficient. Let Me be your resource, your help, your strength.

What an awesome God we serve! How wonderful it is to know that God's not making us feel worse by pointing out everything we did to make things worse at the time when it will cause us the most pain and humiliation. We can take comfort in that, but we also need to learn from it. Take the time to give the Spirit control of our reactions so that, by grace, we can cease turning to ourselves and others when they're down and saying now look what you've done. We can instead give grace and comfort and peace and make things better.

Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.