The Choice is Yours...

So I have been really inspired by some people in my life lately and I'm not sure where I'm going with this except that I have a challenge to make to anyone reading this. I have some friends who are going through heartbreaking situations, but have turned them into inspiring stories of hope and love. We have some friends who after 3 years of fertility treatments finally gave up on having children and chose to start up the adoption process. 3 years....what frustration and heartache. From the outside looking in, its easy to minimize the pain, but I imagine that if you're the one trying to have a child and your body rejects the possibility time after time, that there is pain and defeat and rejection and frustration and contention between husband and wife and so much more. Well our friends chose to adopt and just recently, their prayers have been answered and they are the proudest newest parents of an infant son who made his journey home from the hospital with them as the newest member of their family.
Then, I have a friend whose dream has always been to be a mommy. Even when I knew her in college, I knew that about her. That was her destiny. They found out they were indeed going to be parents and joy abounded. Several weeks into their pregnancy, they found out that they were both carriers of cystic fibrosis and that their baby girl would have a 1 in 4 chance of having it...and sure enough, she does. After wrestling with this revelation and focusing on all the things that could go wrong, my friend came to the realization of all that can still go RIGHT and how special of a gift that they are receiving. They are already head over heels into supporting the cystic fibrosis cure cause and their whole families have jumped on board to ensure the best possible care and most possible knowledge for the soon to be born baby girl.

I think we all imagine and desire perfection. We want things to go the way we've always planned. I am totally guilty as charged as I have a lot of hopes and dreams and when some of them don't happen as planned, discontentment sets in. I don't understand why the Lord does what he does sometimes and why Satan is allowed to do what he does sometimes, but I do love it when the Lord strengthens us to adapt to unplanned circumstances, when he plants seeds of hope and love and faith and grace into our hearts and our lives so we can climb above and beyond the despair and disappointment that sometimes life brings. I know that what we see on the surface isn't always the reality in one's heart and things aren't as hunky dory as they can seem in their most recent blog posting, but I do see people who are faced with trials who react bitterly and spew their anger and hurt on everyone around them, and I see people who CHOOSE to see God's glory and gifts amongst the pain and react with love and kindness and choose to be "life makers" instead of "life dragger downers."

I rarely get angry...I'm thankful that from day to day I don't have people attacking me or hating me or creating contention with me. However, today I had a situation where someone really hurt my feelings. Someone I know and should trust well decided to spew her opinion on me that was really personal and that she had absolutely nothing to do with. It was in regards to something that I pour my life into day in and day out and she has NOTHING to do with yet went on and on about how we had made a terrible decision and how much she hated it. It wasn't necessary...at all. Yet it affected me. I became really really angry inside. I just wanted to write an email telling her how what she did was so inappropriate and how people are terribly repelled by people like her when they waltz into situations and spew their negativity rather than pointing out complimentary things. She chose negativity. After handing it all over to the Lord, I chose positivity. Even though I was angry, I let the storm brewing inside of me to calm, asked the Lord for his grace to forgive, and CHOSE to relax. Its possible...it really is. And even though I still wish I could tell her how I feel because I have a sense of justice inside of me that says people need to have an honest slap in the face every once in a while, the storm has calmed. The anger has left, and now I just feel sorry for her.

You have the choice....the choice to go to God first and choose Joy, or to handle it yourself, let Satan have his way, and hurt others in the process while drowning in a miserable life that isn't going anywhere good. What will you choose next time an obstacle stands in your way and you have the power of affecting someone else's life for good or for bad?