There are just too many choices!  I can go to an agency and ask questions.  I’m good at that sort of thing.  But when you don’t really know where to go in the first place, everything gets instantly complicated.

I called one place.  Got a machine.  If you want…, press one.  If you want…, press two.  On it went, all the way through choice nine.  “If I knew what I wanted for crying out loud, I would just tell you but you have to answer the phone first!” I wanted to scream at no one in particular.  I finally pressed one of the choices.  “Please leave a message and someone will call you as soon as we can!”  Right.  That was yesterday.  Am I counting on them calling me back?  Not so much.

I saw a post yesterday morning.  It stated in part, “stress is a choice”.  That caught my attention.  Stress is a choice.  At first something in me bristled.  “How can that be?  I didn’t ask for all this.  I didn’t cause the stress I’m feeling at this moment.”  And, for a short time, I continued in my fretting about all the stressful issues on my plate.  But that post just kept niggling at me and I found myself really pondering it, whether it could be truth or not.

Last night we watched a DVD by Graham Cooke.  My mind had difficulty staying with what he was saying in the beginning.  But then, as the video played on, I began to take notice of his theme.  While he certainly wasn’t addressing my issues, he was addressing the truth of the Word and that’s when my ears began to hear.  I began scribbling notes as the ah-ha’s of his words settled over me.  By the end of the video, I felt like someone had come to me and wrapped a very warm blanket around my shoulders.  My loving Savior was attending to my frazzled nerves.

There was one thing in particular that stood out and ministered to me.  “Our current circumstance is the ideal soil for our next breakthrough,” said Pastor Cooke.  Was this it, the defining moment of all the stresses I’m currently facing?  I could suddenly see truth.  While the enemy of my soul wanted me to become tormented in the situations at hand, my loving Papa has other ideas.  The Lord’s provision for me is one based on His love for me.

When we come to the place of realization that God loves us, will never leave or forsake us, then there becomes space for us to break through into His provisions.  What is God’s plan for each of us?  To make us more like Him!  In Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let Us make man in Our image…”  Who is the Us God refers to?  It is He, Jesus and Holy Spirit.  They, the holy three, are having a conversation.  “Jesus, Holy Spirit, how about we make man (which includes both men and women) in Our image.  Let’s make them like us, shall we?”  And that’s exactly what happened.

God is drawn to His only Son in us.  When we receive Christ, He comes to reside in us and it is that residency that attracts God.  It is the divine plan of redemption, that we would become more and more like the One in us.  When you add to this the fact that God tells us that He’s seated us in heavenly places with Christ, we have the makings of that perfect soil for breakthrough Graham Cooke spoke of in the video!

God is for me.  He loves me.  He’s not interested in tormenting me, but He is interested in helping me learn to respond to all situations in the same ways that Jesus did when He was here on this earth as a man.  The Bible tells us that Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing and said only what He heard the Father saying.  That’s the plumb line God works me toward.  Why?  Because He only wants my success, not my downfall.  As I learn to lean into Him more and more, I am better able to discern His plans for my next breakthrough!

I have a long way to go in this process.  But, praise God, I just happened to have in my possession last night a DVD by Graham Cooke that helped me see God’s plan better for this time in my life.  Do I know exactly what to do about all the stresses yet?  Um, not exactly.  But this I do know.  God is for me in this and every tough situation I face.  He has an outcome He hopes I’ll press into Him to find out.  And His outcome will contain a breakthrough for my growth, something I would be so happy to find.

Is stress a choice?  I suspect it is because last night I heard truth and I’m choosing today to not look at all the circumstances.  Instead I’m attempting to lean closer to my Father in order to hear what He’s telling me about this.

Father, I pray You’ll give me ears to hear and eyes to see You more clearly today.  I want Your provision for this circumstance.  This is the ideal soil for a breakthrough Papa.  And boy am I ready for a breakthrough!  Today I’m choosing not stress, but You!