Is your faith in God alone?
December 1, 2011 | Faith: Knowing Christ, Family: Nurturing Family, Feelings: Intentional freedom
Trials demand wisdom, wisdom demands prayer, and prayer demands faith. ~R. Ellsworth
Sometimes I just don’t have the answer. Am I alone in this? I don’t think so.
Not long ago I had an encounter with someone I care about. Something small turned large in a heartbeat. It made me angry. I wanted to hurt this person back. But I paused.
Just for a second.
Because reacting to feelings often lead me in a crazy direction, the opposite of where I really want to go.
What do I do?
A prayer. Whispered where no one could hear. And then I knew what to do. It was exactly the opposite of what I wanted to do, or would have done 10 seconds earlier.
James 1:5 (NLT) says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
But it’s the next verse that teaches me what to do in hard places when feelings are all over the place. It says, “But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.”
In God alone. So, when I need wisdom in the hard or tricky places, I can’t go with emotions. I can’t act on impulses.
We pause. We listen. We respond, even if it’s a 180 from what we want to do.
That day God asked me to do a simple gesture, and it disarmed the person I cared about. It also disarmed me.
A powerful word: disarmed.
You see, they (and I) expected a heated encounter. To take a small thing and make it a mountain between us. But instead, by asking for wisdom in God alone, the moment was resolved. Peace ensued.
Are you asking for wisdom? Are you willing to respond in God alone?
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Without revealing the person or situation, would you please tell me what you said that diffused the impending explosion? Sometimes having words to use in my “word bank” help me to be less impulsive.
December 1st, 2011 at 11:52 amIf you feel you cannot share, please know that I understand and still love your posts!
Hugs,
G
So funny, but I could have used my own blog today. Does that ever happen to you? Your words come back and say, “Oh, listen, girl”.
Something that would have helped me are:
Less words are more.
December 1st, 2011 at 2:23 pmDon’t keep trying to explain your side or feelings when things are heated; it gets lost in the emotions.
Be genuine about what you want to convey, but hear what they are saying, too.
Thank you. I’m pondering what an impact this can have on my situation. I have my mom living with me. And practically daily she does or says things that frankly set me or my husband off. I hate the reactions that come out of me towards her and have been struggling on how to get a better handle on my emotions and words. This may very well be just the thing God has placed in my path to use.
December 2nd, 2011 at 8:20 amI say AMEN TO SUZIE, for myself, I also need to remember…less is better! ESP when emotions are in charge.
December 8th, 2011 at 11:09 pmI can certainly say lately, my emotions have been out in front, but God is changing my life in these circumstances
I praise Him!
Grand mother in pain!