Recently I sat in a meeting with an educator that was quite enlightening and thought provoking. The individual was stressing the need for sound morals and Christian values that must be established and nourished in the home, in church, and in school. I listened attentively as this Christian educator expounded on how life today is hard not only for adults, but it is very challenging for our children. I left the meeting in a very pensive state of mind believing that now more than ever we must have God at the very core of everything that transpires in our lives.

Unless someone is living in a sterile bubble, I believe we can all stand on common ground agreeing with the fact that “life is hard”. I would like to believe that we can agree that not everything about life is hard, but we certainly experience rough patches and seasons that oftentimes throw us off kilter. Acknowledging that fact, I pose the question when these life situations arise . . .

What is your “go to”? When life gets hard, its only natural for our human side to kick in. In other words, it is not uncommon for us to have what is called a “knee jerk reaction”. The dictionary describes a “knee jerk reaction” as an immediate unthinking emotional reaction produced by an event or statement to which the reacting person is highly sensitive.

So, when life hits hard what is your knee jerk reaction? Do you immediately resort to those common emotions that are familiar and, in many instances, not even unreasonable? Emotions that trigger worry, anger, fear, desperation, isolation, sadness, defensiveness, lack of desire to even move forward. I’ll be quite honest with you, I struggled with worry for many years and even now I must be very careful that I recognize symptoms and signs that will allow worry to take over. I have found the one solution that never fails — prayer. Literally the act of communicating with God about everything! I know it is probably one of those “go tos” that is easier said than done — but it works.

The Word of God tells us in Psalm 55: 22 (AMP) tells us to “Cast your burden on the LORD (release it) and He will sustain and uphold you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (slip, fall, fail). The wonderful thing about life is that God understands and never wants us to carry more than we can bear. He wants us to give everything to Him rather than struggle with it, become overwhelmed, and shaken at the very core of our being. The truth is, life with all its complexities can be overwhelming at times. Our Father boasts of the fact that He is in control of every situation, which is something we will never be able to say! It may be a process that will develop over the course of time; but allowing God to be your “go to” will result in the best outcome every time.

Source: First Lady Denise