Reporting vs. Dwelling and Prayer – Reporting is simply that. Reporting is sharing verbally, or in writing, the status of an event, a project, or of your own self. For example, Reporting the status of your finances would be telling the appropriate person(s) the current status. You tell your accountant, or your business partners, the account status. If I am in the “red” meaning I am in debt and do not have the money to pay my bills, we are likely to have a discussion about a course of action. Reporting is reporting a status. What comes next depends on what was reported.
There are personal things we might report to our special friends. Those one or two people to whom we tell everything. Even with the personal stuff, we can keep reporting separate from dwelling. Reporting illness is once again simply that. You report to a friend how you are feeling and perhaps have a short discussion about how to move forward with it. Perhaps you need to visit a doctor and/or have tests. You report those results to a friend. You might be one of those who likes to explore the spiritual source of – Cause – of what is going on. That is reporting not dwelling.
Dwelling and subsequent suffering, is ongoing sharing with numerous people, repeatedly. On and on about how bad you feel and it is one thing after another. Another hallmark of dwelling is not taking any action on the complaint. The listener tells the complainer, “go see a doctor,” and the complainer does not – that would be dwelling, not reporting.
Perhaps you are dwelling on how much you don’t like your job or the people you work with. Dwelling is telling lots of people over and over and most likely looking for sympathy. But reporting to your close friend is necessary so you can, a) get it out – which takes away the power, and b) come up with a solution.
If you do not have at least one person you can “dump” anything on, you will stuff it and that is NOT how to move forward to a positive solution – positive thinking – positive action. There is also nothing wrong with appropriate sympathy. To stuff it and keep pretending all is well, is spiritual bypass. However, to make positive affirmations and submit prayer IS positive but doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share if it is bothering you. Many events, feelings (emotional or physical) come and go with no “reporting.” That is perfectly fine. That is how I have spent most of my life. I report to a friend when I am growing weary of whatever is going on, or when I feel a need to share what a doctor told me, or test results. Sometimes, I just need to get it out. I need support and that is not dwelling. Perhaps, you are getting a little depressed because it doesn’t seem to end – one thing after another – so you share. If you are immediately told you are depressed because you are too focused on illness, find someone else to share with. You are not too focused, or dwelling. You are simply reporting one more thing you just found out from the doctors. Quickly find someone else to share with because you need the support of a friend. It does not mean that person is not your friend, it only means for whatever reason, they cannot handle hearing it. Many people have the belief you should never talk about it and simple pray it away. The power of prayer is often misunderstood and subsequently, some people lose faith in prayer saying it “doesn’t work.”
Prayer is not a list for Santa Claus. Prayer is recognizing the truth for us and about us but the answers to prayer come in so many interesting ways. Here are a few examples of how prayer can be answered in ways other than what may have been expecting.
1.you pray for improvement in your job situation and you get fired.
2.you pray for good health and you end up at a doctor’s office and he sends you for tests.
3.we pray for a relationship to heal and it ends.
When we pray for God’s Idea of Perfection, we need to trust it WILL be God’s Idea which may or may not match what we had in mind.
It is important to know which one of your friends it is safe to share with. You could actually “test” out a few of your close friends.
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