Unshackled Moments ~ November 1, 2017 ~ When Things Go Wrong

Stuff happens. You know what I mean. Bad stuff. Inconvenient stuff. Stuff we don't want. Stuff that hurts. Stuff that does us damage and makes us afraid. Stuff that increases our burden. Stuff that makes our efforts and plans a waste. Stuff happens that sticks holes all through the balloon of our illusion of control and we pop or sink slowly to the ground looking weepy and drained. Stuff happens, and you can not buy no-stuff-happening insurance. It doesn't work. Religion won't keep the storms from blowing and people from being jerks and our plans from being nuked. Those other things we tried to make our lives better, to return feelings of comfort, pleasure and security when things go wrong actually betrayed us, quit working and then added to the problems and seemed to make even more stuff happen.

So what do we do? Things are going to go wrong. We are not always going to get our way, and even if we did, sometimes our way turns out not to be what we thought it would be like. Jesus said we would have trouble. Well, here's a radical thought. When things go wrong, don't go with them.

It's sounds simple, but it's hard. It's as hard, or maybe even harder, than just say no. I mean seriously what was Nancy thinking? Your addictions are destroying your life and killing you slowly, why don't you say no? Because I don't have the power! And if we try to control our actions and reactions ourselves, we will find ourselves going into control mode, being driven by fear and frustration. We can't control ourselves. If we could, we could say no when whatever we were doing stopped helping, stopped being fun, stopped providing comfort and pleasure and began destroying our security. Seriously, simple doesn't mean easy.

But while we can't keep ourselves from thinking, feeling and planning wrong, what we can usually do is pause, just a moment, before we act. We pause and ask for an intuitive thought. That's recovery speak for we remember who knows what to do and who we are supposed to be giving control to and we pray and ask for the Spirit to lead us, guide us, direct us, and empower us to lay aside out first thought and instincts and choose to stay in the way of love, love for God and love for others (which is never a wrong reaction). We don't have to go wrong when things do. We don't have to get bent out of shape when life gets wrecked. We don't have to do damage control or fix everything.

How to keep from going wrong when things do is the same process and the same power that makes it possible to say no to the things that we once could not say no to. It's that same grace doing just one more thing for us that we can't do for ourselves. So it actually is as simple as it sounds. When things go wrong, don't go with them, stay surrendered to the Spirit, looking to Daddy and trusting in the work of Jesus on our behalf. He will lead us through the storm. He will guide us through the hardship and help us to go through the trial and tribulation in such a way that brings us closer to Him and shows others how great He is, what a difference His love can make, and how He can change the pattern of destruction and lemming leaping after trouble in our lives.

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