Turning I Can’ts into I Cans

As I stand at the kitchen island I have a million thoughts going through my head. I’m sipping my hot coffee while waiting for the muffins to finish and watching the kids play patiently. This post came to my mind and it was originally meant to give ways to encourage your children to do things when they feel that they can’t do things.

I know here lately I have had some issues come up regarding a certain family member. These have been ongoing and we deal with them again and again only to have them rear up again with a vengeance. I was literally in tears a few days ago and cried in bed saying ‘I CAN’T‘. I CAN’T change my circumstances right now. I CAN’T change this person or their attitudes and behaviors. I CAN’T control how others react to the situation either or how they deal with the gossip.

I also know that I CAN’T let this get me down. I CAN’T ignore this person or their actions because it doesn’t help the situation any. I CAN’T let this situation change who I am or how I treat others. I CAN’T just hide my feelings and pretend everything is OK either. I CAN’T let this situation affect my family and kids any more than it already has. I CAN’T really do anything more about this than I already have.

So instead of being overwhelmed by the ‘I CAN’Ts’ I will focus on the ‘I CAN‘s’. I CAN continue to look for a better place to live. I CAN continue to pray that God will lead us where we need to be and that He will keep us safe through this storm just as He has through many storms before.

I CAN pray that God will touch this person’s heart and soften it so that they can truly see the damage they are doing to others around them. I CAN pray that God will give me strength and patience to deal with these attacks on myself and show me how to handle them. I CAN pray that He will also help me to remember that when it is all said and done that it is Satan who is using this person to try to get to me.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. – Ephesians 6:12

I CAN pray that God will help me remember His will for my life and that He is in control. I CAN pray that I CAN continue on with my life and not let this overwhelm me because I CAN hand this over to God. I CAN remind myself that nothing that happens today will separate me from God’s love for me.

For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.- Proverbs 3:26

I CAN pray for wisdom and guidance from God to help me to deal with this person. I CAN ask Him to give me the words to say when needed. I CAN also pray that He will shut my mouth when I am tempted to say something that I shouldn’t. I CAN also look to His word for advice because I am not the first nor the last person that has or will deal with nasty gossip and ugly rumors.

A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. – Proverbs 16:28

I CAN find ways to put boundaries up to protect myself and my family. I CAN and have confronted this person and expressed how hurt I am by their actions. I CAN do things to limit the amount of time I must spend around this person.

A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; – Titus 3:10

I CAN also pray that God will guide me when I confront this person and the persons they have been spreading the ugliness too. I CAN pray that God will touch each and every one of their hearts so that they can see the gossip and rumors for exactly what they are and that they will not feel the need to keep repeating them.

Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.-Proverbs 26:20

I CAN pray that God will help use this situation for my benefit. I CAN look for ways that I can learn from the situation. I CAN learn who to trust with what and who my true friends are. I CAN learn who truly loves and cares for me.

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth friends. – Proverbs 17:9

I CAN allow myself to feel the hurt and the pain from having someone so close be so cruel to me. If I don’t allow myself to feel these things they will sprout inside of me and overtake me and fill me with bitterness and hatred.

The words of a talebearer [are] as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. – Proverbs 18:18

I CAN forgive this person and the others that have continued to spread the rumors. I CAN ask God to help me forgive them when it seems impossible to do.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:32

No matter what you are facing today, please don’t feel like YOU CAN’T find a way out or a solution to your problem. YOU CAN talk to God about it and leave it in His hands. I know how hard that is to do but YOU CAN do this!