DRAMA: Leave It Behind
By Sally Tippett Rains
There’s a lot of drama going on in our world today. What’s going on with you? Are you upset about a health situation? Is it being isolated in a pandemic, wearing (or not wearing) a mask? Is it the fear of the unknown, guilt about your feelings regarding current events, rejection from someone you love? Whatever’s keeping you up at night, I’m sure you are doing your best just to make it through the day.
Then comes someone with a whole bunch of drama. Now, just living your life during these times can be hard enough, but the drama I’m referring to is when people get all up into your face—whether it’s happening or you are perceiving it to be happening. You are just trying make it through the day and then someone tells you you’re doing it wrong, or they criticize you, or start going down a negative path with stuff you just don’t need. And for Heaven’s sake, don’t give yourself drama by self-criticism.
It’s easy to get swept into fear, anger and let someone’s drama in. When we find ourselves falling into a bad path it’s good to settle our minds in any way we can and try to think reasonably.
In my book, “Choose Happy; Find Contentment in Any Situation” I mention drama and the importance of learning to respectfully walk away. I feel it’s so important that if someone starts going down a path that I feel will put negativity into my day, I have even said, “Don’t let your negative get into my positive.”
I know I need an occasional reminder to STOP and get to a peaceful place.
When I get off my guard, I can become a victim to letting bad thoughts get into my brain. I worry about my kids, I worry about my husband, I worry about others who I see are suffering or upset. But then I have to say to myself: what does worrying do to help the situation?
In John 14 it says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” There is a lot more as this is a great passage but I’m going to concentrate on that one sentence. We can say it in the vernacular: Don’t let your heart be troubled. Don’t let your heart get upset.
Now carrying it a bit further we can take control of our lives by saying, “I will not allow my heart to be troubled.” And when I think about someone else’s drama (or some drama I am about to create for myself) I say it again: “I will not allow my heart to be troubled.”
Here’s something you can think or say to yourself, that is going to empower you today: “I’m not going to let drama in my life; and especially if it’s YOUR drama. You go ahead and keep that. I will not allow my heart to be troubled.”
How do you go about keeping the bad thoughts out of our mind? One quick way I do it is get out my Bible—or just Google what you need: “Bible verses about peace,” “Bible verses about fear.” “Bible verses about anger.” The Word of God is filled with inspiration.
If I am feeling too much drama in my life, I need to leave it behind and get into the Word.
In the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes” when Evelyn was so upset, Mrs. Threadgood told her “Get ya some hormones!” Well I’m here telling you if you find things spinning out of control in your life—”Get ya some Word!”
You are not the only one who is feeling frustrated right now, but the good thing is you are trying to help yourself. You are going to be one of the bright spots in someone’s day today. You’ll make the choice to take the high road and try to make the best of what’s going on. And with all you’re going through– you’re doing a great job!
If you are truly frightened about something, pray about it and then give it to the Lord.
As my friend Jan Orlando says in my book, “Put it in the lap of the Lord, and leave it there.” She points out that God wants us to give Him our burdens, but we usually just can’t do it.
We may think we are giving Him a burden (“Lord, please help me figure out what to do about this situation”) but we just can’t help ourselves and we keep taking it back with our worries and suggestions (“If you could just do this,” or “Here’s a way you can help me.”)
No. God doesn’t need us telling him what to do and how to do it. He’s God. He’s got this. Trust Him.
“Put it in the lap of the Lord and LEAVE it there,” she says.
We don’t have to “go to the bad” as I say when I see I am headed to some negative thinking. We can calm ourselves down and only let in the thoughts we want to hear. This doesn’t mean for you to become one-sided and not listen to others’ opinions; but it means you can listen, process, and then think what you want to think and not have your life be determined by what others say.
You don’t like the way the newscasters tell it? Turn off the TV. You don’t like the way the social media tells it? Stop scrolling.
This week in one of his daily Bible Study posts, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said, “When we take our eyes of Jesus we become distracted. When we stop allowing God to fill us up completely we slowly become empty. When we get empty, we fill the space inside us with something else, or Satan does. ”
This week let’s rise above the drama, let’s choose happy.
Bible Verse:
“Let not your heart be troubled.” John 14
Quote:
“Peace is my most valuable asset and I’m not going to spend it on your drama.” — Creflo Dollar
Action Plan:
We can overcome our temptation to go to the bad side—like when we get upset by every little thing and turn into the worse version of ourselves because of it– because we are awesome. Say that to yourself: “I am awesome.” We don’t have to spread negative in the world and we don’t have to live with it. We can choose happy—not because we ARE happy but because we want to be. Every day isn’t perfect and parts of some days aren’t even sort of good—but there are parts of every day that can be great.
We can make a concentrated effort to walk away from the negative drama that weighs us down. We can stay on the path that heads towards Excellence rather than going down the path of chaos.
When we are faced with a seemingly impossible situation, we can survive it.
“Like with the parting of the Red Sea… how did He do it? With his Awesomeness… that’s how.” — Adam Wainwright
One Last Thought:
When I posted my “STOP” method of calming down so you can get some sleep at night, I really got a lot of positive comments. If anything I write helps even one person then it was worth my time and that one was definitely worth my time.
The way I get to sleep is the same way I pray—I STOP my racing thoughts. Just saying these things out loud (in my mind) helps me focus on what I want to fill my mind with—and not let in the outside negative thoughts of the world.
So whether you are trying to calm yourself down to go to sleep or just settle yourself down on a stressful day, try it yourself:
Think “STOP” –Settle, Thankful, Others, Prayers (or Petition– but prayers is easier to remember) in order to settle your mind as you lay in bed trying to sleep. When our mind is moving so fast it’s often difficult to try to rein in the peace we desperately need, so the act of trying to pray in order can help. Then you move into these steps:
- Settle your mind. Open your mind to peace.
- Thank God for your blessings.
- Others. Say prayers for loved ones.
- Prayer list-(Petitions) Specific people or situations you want to pray for
How to do the Four-step Prayer Method
- Say to yourself “STOP it’s time to Settle down and allow peace to come to me.” And then go into the three areas of prayer.
- Start out with Thanking God for all your blessings. “Dear Lord I am thankful for…” and then list all you are thankful for. Always first on my list is the weather because usually, no matter what the weather is, I am thankful for God in nature. Then I thank Him for my husband, my home, my sound mind that I am able to lay there and pray. Once you get started you will think of many things you are thankful for.
The things you are THANKFUL for are about YOU. What YOU are thankful for.
- The third thing is praying for Others, individually. This is where you pray for your family and dear friends.
- The last one I use both Pray and Petition because obviously the whole thing is for prayer, but whatever makes you remember your prayer list is what you should use. This is the very important group of prayers where you say “I’ll pray for you.” If you say you will pray for someone, then follow through and do it. My list would include someone who just had surgery, someone going through marital troubles, someone trying to make a decision I usually have a list of people who I think about each week and pray for. This week I include YOU as we all continue to navigate through these trying times.
I appreciate every positive comment I get and thank you so much to those who occasionally drop me a line to tell me a particular one helped them that week. I also like ideas or suggestions. ALSO if you have anything you would like me to pray for you about, please let me know. Hit reply and I’ll get it.– STR