Just when you think everything is going smoothly, the plans have all come together and you are well on the road to success . . . BAM!! You’re hit by the unexpected! What do you do, how do you react? Everything now hinges on the next decision you make! When I started this blog, I did not realize that it actually is a sequel to last week’s blog entitled “What’s Next?”

There are some people in life that are clearly those “go getters” who never appear to run out of steam. They are literally driven to achieve, and you know if they can’t get in through the front door, they won’t stop until they get in through the left side, right side, or the back door. However, we must recognize that they too experience difficult challenges and sometimes face the hardest decisions of their lives while striving for success.

Recently I learned of a major challenge that a business owner was faced with. For several reasons I am unable to share specific details, but I can disclose enough for you to get the gist of the story. There was a strong possibility that the company could face a lawsuit if certain changes were made. Let me be perfectly clear, the owner nor the business was involved in anything illegal, yet there was an apparent conflict of interest with the potential to create a nationwide discrepancy. This individual could have entered into a lawsuit of their own, and virtually fought “fire with fire”, but they chose to go a different route altogether. Did this different route incur major cost . . . YES! Did this different route involve hours and hours of revamping and to some degree going back to the drawing board . . . YES! But, in the long run they knew it was for the greater good and would result in the best path to ensure long term success. What thrills me about this whole experience is the manner in which this individual handled the unexpected. The individual has always believed in God, but only is recent years has come into a true relationship with God! I dare say if this had happened years ago, the strategy and the outcome would have been drastically different. Now so much more is at stake and hinging on making right decisions — marriage, family, company, and their witness for God. Many people (probably more than they can imagine) are following this person’s example and lifestyle.

A very powerful scripture comes to mind that I feel relates to the theme of this writing. It is found in Hebrews 12: 1 (NLT), “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” You see we have a history of those “faith walkers” all throughout the Bible that were once faced with major decisions but chose to trust in God. And now there are those who are watching us to examine the genuineness and authenticity of our witness in all that we do. We must come to the realization that life, no matter how successful it may be, does not come without challenge and many times unanticipated challenge. But we cannot afford to allow those challenges to lure us into sin (or actions displeasing to God) that will slow us down, trip us up, and eventually default our purpose. I find myself frequently going back to one of the most popular and profound sayings used by Christians around the world . . . “What would Jesus do?” The bracelets with those letters that were worn back in the 1990’s may not be around any longer, but I believe if we would ponder that phrase before we make decisions and before we react, the outcome and result of many challenges and questions we must deal with will have a much greater impact upon our future.

Source: First Lady Denise