Guest Post: Being Like Jesus When Your Day Falls Apart

Guest post from Tauna:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, self-control; against such things there is no
law.” ~ Galatians 5:22-23

A few months ago I was having a particularly hard mommy day.
OK, week.

Maybe month.

I emailed a good friend of mine asking for prayer. She’s so
faithful in her prayers for me. I am blessed to have a friend like her.

A few days later she emailed me a note of encouragement. She
sent me an excerpt from what she read in her devotion that day, which I believe
was Edges of His Ways: Selections for Daily Reading by Amy Carmichael. I’m so glad she did,
because it changed me.

Here is a more complete version of what she sent me
(emphasis and format mine):

Dr. F.B. Meyer once told me that when he was young he was
very irritable, and an old man told him that he had found relief from this very
thing by looking up the moment he felt it coming, and saying, “Thy
sweetness Lord.” By telling this, that old man greatly helped Dr. Meyer,
and he told it to tens of thousands.

I pass it on to you because I have found it a certain and a
quick way of escape. Take the opposite of your temptation and look up
inwardly, naming that opposite:

Untruth – Thy truth, Lord

Unkindness – Thy
kindness Lord

Impatience – Thy patience Lord

Selfishness – Thy unselfishness,
Lord

Roughness – Thy gentleness, Lord

Discourtesy – Thy courtesy, Lord

Resentment – Thy kindness Lord

Impatience – Thy patience Lord

Thy calmness, Thy
peacefulness.

I think that no one who tries this very simple plan will
ever give it up. (It takes for granted, of course, that all is yielded-the
“I” dethroned.) Will all to whom it is new please try it for a
day, a week, a month, and test it.

I immediately put it into practice.

When I was tempted to sigh in frustration….. “Your
contentment, Jesus.”

When I was tempted to be rough with or yell at my
children….. “Your gentleness, Jesus.”

When I was tempted to worry….. “Your peace,
Jesus.”

When I was tempted to want my way….. “Your
selflessness, Jesus.”

When I was tempted to entertain lies about myself from the
enemy….. “Your truth, Jesus.”

“More of You and less of me, Lord Jesus.”

I still practice this worship and prayer and desperate plea
daily. Some days it’s easier than others. As the author says, “all
is yielded – the ‘I’ dethroned.”

But in those sweet moments when I am truly
yielded, I wash my family with the words and attitudes of Jesus. The fruit of
the Spirit nourishes their souls through me.

I encourage you the same way my dear friend encouraged me!
In the days ahead, when faced with your own temptations, turn your eyes upon
Jesus and ask for more of Him.

Fill in the blanks…
When I am _________ – Your ______, Jesus.

Tauna loves her family and loves God. She has
been married for 7 years and has 3 young children with another on the way. She
writes at ProverbialHomemaker.com,
so named because, as she says, “me becoming a wife, mom, and homemaker
proves that anything is possible with God.”

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