Top

Renee Swope

Encouraging and equipping moms to parent with God's grace and confidence.

When You Need A New Script

 

If there’s one thing that throws me into a ditch of self-doubt and discouragement, it’s when I act ugly with the ones I love. 

Today, I’ve asked my amazing friend Lysa, who is also president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, to share how “losing it” with her loved ones effects her. It’s something she talks about in her New York Times Best-selling book, Unglued,

__________________

I’m sad because of the way I acted today. Disappointed in my lack of self-control. And the more I relive my emotionally driven tirade, the more my brain refuses sleep.

I have to figure this out. What is my problem? Why can’t I seem to control my reactions?

I stuff. I explode. And I don’t know how to get a handle on this. But God help me if I don’t get a handle on this. I will destroy the relationships I value most and weave into my life permanent threads of short-temperedness, shame, fear, and frustration.

Is that what I really want? Do I want my headstone to read, “Well, on the days she was nice she was really nice. But on the days she wasn’t, rest assured, hell hath no fury like the woman who lies beneath the ground right here”?

No. That’s not what I want. Not at all. I don’t want the script of my life to be written that way.

So, at 2:08 a.m., I vow to do better tomorrow. But better proves illusive and my vows wear thin in the face of daily annoyances and other unpleasant realities. Tears slip, and I’m worn out from trying. Always trying.

I feel broken. Unglued, actually. I have vowed to do better at 2:08 a.m. and 8:14 a.m. and 3:37 p.m. and 9:49 p.m. and many other minutes in between. So why aren’t things getting better? Why aren’t my reactions tamer?

I know what it’s like to praise God one minute and in the next minute yell and scream at my child—and then to feel both the burden of my destructive behavior and the shame of my powerlessness to stop it.

The emotional demands keep on coming. Unrelenting insecurity. Wondering if anyone appreciates me. Feeling tired, stressed, and hormonal.

 Feeling unglued is really all I’ve ever known. And I’m starting to wonder if maybe it’s all I’ll ever be.

Those were the defeating thoughts I couldn’t escape. Maybe you can relate. If you relate to my hurt, I pray you will also relate to my hope.

While unglued is all I’ve really known, I believe that with God’s help, today my life can be different. That’s my personal revelation of hope.

Today, I’d like to invite you to take the you the “Unglued Challenge” for the next 5 days {you can find out more below and enter Renee’s giveaway}. In my 5-days To Better Reactions challenge, you’ll find encouragement and a safe place to talk about our tendencies to stuff, explode, or react somewhere in between.

I am both a stuffer and an exploder. And I’ve experienced God’s tender mercies and grace given so many times it almost seems scandalous. How can our God be so patient? I don’t know. But He is.

Today, He’s offering us the fresh start our souls desperately need. Isaiah 41:13 promises He will help us. We can be different. A slate wiped clean. A page crisp-white. A chance to start rewriting the old scripts of past failures.

For me. For you. Together. We can do this.

Prayer: God, thank You that this is a new twenty-four hours. Today, I want to believe I can start writing a new script for my life. Help me to overcome the disbelief I have from my past failures. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Thought for the Day: While feeling unglued is all I’ve really known, today my life can be different.

__________________

Today’ post is from Day 1 of Lysa TerKeurst’s 5-day Unglued Challenge that includes FREE devotions from Unglued- Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions. If you want to learn how to respond with no regrets by managing your tendencies to stuff, explode, or react somewhere in between get Unglued, for 25% OFF through Proverbs31 Ministries today. 

 THE UNGLUED GIVEAWAY
Just do ONE or ALL of the following:

For EACH thing you do, leave a different comment. You’ll be entered to win each time!

Purchase the book for 25% off {or any Unglued resource}

Sign up for the 5-day Challenge {see right sidebar}.

Share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter {see buttons below}

Watch Lysa TerKeurst on The Today Show {Yes, The Today SHOW! We’re so excited!!} She’ll be on Monday (9am segment) and Tues (10am segment) Eastern Standard Time.

Click “Share Your Thoughts” to tell me which ones you did and why you want to win!


Grand Prize Winner  will receive 2 books
+ 1 DVD curriculum and participants guide.
And I’ll give away 3 more books to 3 more winners!

Discover more from Renee Swope

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Comments

  2. Ladies, how many of us try to control…EVERYTHING…in our lives, just like our original mother Eve! I would love a copy to read and share with my two daughters as well as other ladies to help us with our CONTROL ISSUES! Thanks so much for helping us all to grow more Christ-like in our walk. God Bless you all!
    Jenny

  3. I signed up for the Unglued 5 day challenge and I’m looking forward to what God will teach me through it. I have a lot of unglued moments lately as I’m dealing with a struggling marriage, my husbands work which is taking him out of town a lot and attitudes and struggles with the four younger of our eight children. Stress seems to be a daily occurance. Can’t wait to see how God is going to work and how He’s going to grow me through all this.

  4. I bough the book! I would love to win so I could do a bible study with my mom! We’ve never worshiped together, and I think this would be a great start!! PICK ME!!!!!

  5. It’s 2:36 am and I’m entering to win this book and DVD. I am starting a small group for single moms in January 2013 and this study material would come in very handy for them. Especially because as single moms the money and time are tight which just adds to the burden of our plight. Being able to do it all and still love our children without blowing up at what is normally a minor infraction would help lessen the guilt we feel from the day to day issues. We are more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us.

  6. I own the book and just got the participants guide. Would love the DVD and to share this important message with others

  9. Today was a bad day. When I saw this and read it I felt like she was reading my thoughts and putting them to paper (or screen). I’ve gone to counseling for my anger/yelling. And desperately want to act right when I feel “raw emotions.”

  10. I signed up for the Unglued Challenge. I miss my opportunity to see her on the Today show but would have loved too!!!

    • Also, I ordered the book and subscribed to the challenge/emails a few months ago. Lysa has been a GODSEND for me! I feel like God has really used her words to impact me over and over again and help me through a rough time after I had my son. I am an elder at my church and my husband and I also lead a bible study. I feel like so many other women in my life could benefit from Lysa’s words of wisdom!

  14. I watched her on TODAY show! Wish they let her talk more about her book. But glad to see her getting mainstream coverage. I would love to win just so I can give them all away! I’m reading it now and leading and there’s so many women that are interested in it and can’t afford the books.

  15. I own and have read the book. It was so real and helpful. I plan on keeping it handy as there is a lot of passages that I will keep referring to. God has used Lysa in a mighty way!

  17. I watched her on Monday and Tuesday – she did a great job!!!! Also just signed up for the challenge!! I would LOVE this book – have done a few of her other studies and REALLY NEED this one – something I struggle with every day. . . .

  19. and finally sharing via Facebook. Why I want to win….I DESPERATELY need the journey through this book for my currently chaotic life and I really want to get a small group of moms together to do this in support of one another to rewrite a currently worn out script of coming unglued on a daily basis!!!

  20. I watched both Monday and Tuesday on the today show and Lysa is AMAZING … wish we could have heard more from her — the time was TOO SHORT!!! =)