When Life Stinks

When life hands you a pile of sour grapes, just do the following four things:

REST. Stop placing blame. Stop trying to pin your problems on God, on other people, or even on yourself. Stop finding fault. In fact, stop everything and ask God to show you how you should handle the problem from your end while he takes care of the things you can’t control.

REGROUP. Take time to breathe and think. Some problems need urgent attention. If you find a member of your family unconscious on the bathroom floor, you don’t need to pray about that situation. Just call an ambulance. But the vast majority of our problems should not be addressed with a knee jerk reaction. Instead, we should think and pray. We should ask God to systematically walk us through the problem one step at the time until the problem is resolved.

RELAX. Put your emotions on hold. The first response of the average person to any unforeseen challenge is almost always an emotional response. We are inclined, therefore, to make decisions that are based on internal chemical overloads rather than rational thinking or purposeful faith.

RETREAT. Before you do anything or say anything, find a solitary place where you can pray, and then seek the Lord regarding your problem. As you do, you will find that God will take these weighty things off you and take them upon himself. You also will find that God will start working right away to guide you through your dilemma.