How do you respond to unwanted change and setbacks? How you answer that question determines the long-term result of your setback and ability to bounce-back.

When things go wrong we have a choice to make.

  • We can choose to respond with fear

or

  • We can choose to respond with faith.

Fear makes us run, deny there is a problem and look for a quick-fix. It will cause us to look for someone or something else to blame. Worst of all, fear can make us throw up our hands in defeat, develop a victim mentality and give us permission to wallow in self-pity.

Faith may temporarily be fearful but in time chooses not to be afraid. Faith faces setbacks with hope in a brighter tomorrow and courageously looks for a better way to respond. Why? Because when we respond with fear, in the end, nothing is ever resolved…

A setback, “Is What It Is.” What matters, is what we do next. Regardless of whether we or someone else is responsible for the cause of our setback we can, with God’s help, choose the way of faith and bounce. We can learn from the experience, grow, and do better next time.

Unfortunately, choosing faith over fear is a choice many people see as being completely irrational. They see turning to God for help, trusting Him to guide them, depending on His grace and strength to see them through times of trial and difficulty as naïve, weak-minded, misguided and foolish. Yet that it is exactly what is required for God’s assistance in bouncing back from adversity.

God never promised us roses without thorns, but He has promised to see us through the thicket. It is only when we are willing to work with God—trusting Him with the desires of our heart and aligning our thinking with His—that we are able to remain at peace through the storms of life and emerge stronger for the journey. That includes the terrible situation, setback, and unwanted change you may be facing today.

Be brave. Choose faith over fear and trust Him. There is nothing too hard, too messy, too tangled, or too broken that God cannot see us through. Jeremiah 32:17 says, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

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