An excerpt from Don't Preach At Me, Teach Me by Maria Perricone

Chapter 5: Getting "Unstuck"

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Stuck Whining and Complaining

I got to Texas in 2011, and I knew no one there. I was in a tough situation–homeless, carless and jobless, all at the same time. The only person whom I could rely and depend upon was God! I knew of a person who was in the oilfield that had helped me out. One time, we went to Alabama, where he was from, to get a car for me that his mother no longer wanted. That car was such a blessing to me! Eventually, this guy wanted to switch careers and he got homesick, so he went back home to Alabama. However, I chose to stay in Texas. 

I was finally able to get myself a single-wide trailer that was on the same property as the landlord. It was not skirted, and wintertime in the desert was very cold. One day, I drove by Lowe’s Food on the west

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side of Odessa, TX. I kept eyeballing this grocery store and did not know why until the car broke down on me. So here I was once again, no car, no job, and although I had a place to stay, I needed help paying the rent. I was sitting in this drafty single-wide, talking to the Lord, asking Him for a job. I started complaining about how I needed work, very badly. In a still small voice, God said, “Walk down the street and I will show you where to go.”

Absent-minded me did not want to get what God was saying, so I kept on complaining and whining to God. He told me twice more what to do. I did not listen at first, then I began to explain my problems to Him, like He didn’t already see all and know all. That’s when God stopped speaking. He did not say anything more. So, I finally decided to get my butt up and go walking like He had said.

Lowe’s Food was just a couple of blocks down from my trailer. As I came up on the store, God said, “Go to the Lowe’s. They will hire you.” I went inside, told them I was looking for a job. I got to speak with the store manager. He asked me a couple of questions and then said, “You are hired.” Right there on the spot! While working there, I explained my car situation to a lady at the store who pointed me in the right direction. She knew an impressive street mechanic who would work with me on the cost. A couple of weeks later, the car had been towed over to the mechanic’s house, fixed, and drivable, which led me to a lot more miracles and blessings later down the line. My obedience to the voice of God caused a domino effect of blessings in my life.

My “mat” was procrastination, whining, complaining, and disobedience! Had I not gotten off my mat and continually made excuses, I would have remained stuck and nothing would have moved as quickly as it did. You are delaying your own blessings with your “mat” of excuses. Many of us have gone

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through or are still going through situations and circumstances where God is telling us to pick up our mat and walk. However, we are choosing to be deliberately disobedient and rebellious towards Him. Plenty of us are constantly complaining to God, and He has already given us the answer, but we refuse to step out on faith where we are able to adhere to what He is saying. 

How many of you have heard the expression “Do you want some whine to go with your cheese?” First thing that I thought of (with me being part Scillian) is, “Heck yes! If you have some fruit to go on that tray, as well…bring it on!” I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but now I know that this expression is used for people who like to whine excessively about drama. How many times have we, as Christians, whined to God way too many times? If we are choosing to have an upright spirit, as God tells us in Psalms 32:2, Psalms 143:10, Psalms 51:10-12, then we will choose the right way (which is God’s way), and walk the way that Jesus tells us to walk according to the word of His Father (John 1:1).

Don’t you realize that when God told the man to take up his bed and walk, although he hadn’t used his legs in over 38 years, it doesn’t say anything about that man stumbling or falling or even holding Jesus’s hands as he took a few practice steps. Once Jesus said it, he was fully able to perform it. Once Jesus gave him the command, the man simply took Him at His word.

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