FROM GLOOMORY TO VICTORY

As I evaluated my past week, I noticed an uncomfortable tendency. There was a lack of energy. Everything around me had a grey tint to it. There was a lack of vibrance and brilliance to each day. 

You may wonder, do I live in the Northwest? 

Oddly enough, no. 

I reside in Tampa, Florida. It’s a thriving place with some of the best beaches in the world. Palm trees are commonplace. Business is booming. The sun is shining. Life is good in Tampa Bay.

“Why am I feeling so numb and blah?” I asked. “What is the deal!?” I yelled. Then, totally frustrated, I sat down and thought, “What is the root of this lackadaisical attitude?”

It wasn’t the environment. That was obvious. I concluded it was my lack of seeing the victories in my life. How do I know this? 

One day, my wife, Tonya, asked me to tell her about three victories I had in the past few days. She must have picked up on my non-uplifting persona. Shocker, I couldn’t come up with one! That’s sad. 

I developed, over time, what I have now coined a gloomory mindset, which is the opposite of a victory mindset. It’s a self-imposed condition resulting from an unhealthy focus on problems, obstacles, and disappointments. 

I asked, “What’s going on? What am I doing?”

Frustrated and tired, I said loudly, “Why am I looking at all the negative things around me? Are there no victories in my life to celebrate?” 

Of course there was, I just needed to look for them. I tell you this because I am not the only one caught in the ugly, gloomy web. I wondered if others struggled with the same condition. So, I began to ask the leaders in my church to give me three victories from the past week. Surprise, surprise, they also struggled to provide me with one! 

I know it’s not right, but their gloomery condition momentarily made me feel oddly good. But, I realized that something needed to change in me before I could ask the people in my church to change. 

Tonya devised a morning habit where we would give three victories we experienced the day before. They can be significant victories, and they can be what most people would perceive as small victories. But we speak out those victories, nonetheless. 

They can be as mundane as:

·      I went to the gym.

·      I read my Bible.

·      I ate well.  

The victories can also be focused on what God did for you:

·      God guided me through this project.

·      God helped me to slow down and listen. 

·      God opened my mind to write an article. 

It’s matter what the victory is, it matters that you acknowledge and speak the victory. 

And, you guessed it, the gloomory mindset started to disappear, and a victorious perspective blossomed. My conclusion is that we need to celebrate more as individuals and corporately as a people of Jesus Christ. 

Now, in my weekly Sunday morning team meetings with the music and tech teams, I ask for victories. It took some time but we are overcoming the sin-nature gloomery mindset by speaking out our victories. 

Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” My conclusion is that a gloomy mindset doesn’t stand a chance of survival when we speak out our victories in Jesus!

So, let’s get to it! Let’s overcome the negativity by speaking out even the most minor victories. Let’s overcome the problems in our lives by fixing our eyes on Jesus, who overcomes everything. Let’s move from being “Gloomory People” with little influence to “Victory People” whom God can use to make a difference. 

It is possible to move from gloomory to victory in a moment!

David Towner is the Pastor of The Harbor Church in Odessa, Fl and author of the book Today Is My Favorite Day. He is Tonya’s husband, father to three girls, and grandfather to four grandsons.