If You Can't Praise, Be Quiet | How to Stay Calm Under Pressure When Life Gets Hard

You think you have a reason to complain. So did TJ Tyus.

He faced criminal charges and the threat of prison. He lost his own dream of playing in the NFL. He gave his life to God and served for years without a paycheck, driving three hours round trip to teach Bible study and helping raise more than a hundred kids and send them to college.

He poured that lost dream into his sons. One of them has been working toward the NFL since he was six years old, and he did everything right: the discipline, the degree, the prayer. He finally signed. He started a game and played well. Two days later he was cut. Then signed again, and cut again. Team after team, the same phone call keeps coming.

And TJ adopted a little girl out of foster care, fought cancer beside her, and buried her.

If anybody had the right to act wild, it was him. He told God the truth: you never failed me, but you disappointed me. Then he made a decision. If I cannot praise, I will not complain. I will praise God or I will be quiet.

This message is for you if life just hit you with something you cannot control and you are one bad moment away from losing it. You did not have a bad day. You had a bad moment, and you kept adding "and" to it. Here is how you stop.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why you keep asking God to end the challenge that is supposed to change you

• Why your half squat does not count

• What "David encouraged himself" really means: take courage

• How to stop stacking "and... and... and..." and put a "but" in your spirit

• The FOCUS reset: Find your feet, Observe your focus, Check the meaning, Select one next step