The power to choose

Sometimes I feel like I have no choices in certain situations when really I do, I just don't like the choices that are there.

Have you ever felt like you have been or are being dragged through life? I have.

There have been times when I haven't chosen things that were done to me and haven't chosen circumstances I have faced. However, God reminds me that there are still choices I can make in those situations. I can choose how I respond...

I think that I have felt that kind of choice - my choice of my response - was a 'cop out' - something to try and give me a little control in a situation that felt totally out of control and so not really a choice at all.

I write today and think a little differently.

Deuteronomy 30.20 says, "You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life."

I may not like my choices at times but I can still choose... I can choose to keep my eyes on Jesus. I can choose to love or to forgive. I can choose to find joy and to serve.

It's easier to write those words than to live them out - I know this all too well. Even as I wrote them I heard myself say, "But it's not fair..."

Choosing these things when I cannot change a circumstance, at first seems a little weak (something I hate) but somewhere deep inside, God's Spirit whispers that it's in the choosing that strength is actually found.

I have to believe this. I want to choose to believe this and live from there.

My prayer today is, "God, please help me to respond and not react; to choose love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control, not self-pity or anger. Help me to forgive. I want to trust you."