Message Mondays: When We’re Faced With A Frustrating Situation!

frustration

Welcome to another week, and another Message Mondays post. Don’t you hate it when you experience one of those days where almost everything goes wrong? Then you wish you could have a do-over at the end of the day? Well there was a period last Friday when I was half wishing the day to rewind. What prompted this train of thought, you say? Well, that’s a story in itself.

On Friday my brother Jon and I were catching up with a friend in the middle of the day. The long story of what was discussed with my friend is probably worth a few posts, which I will write about in the near future; so instead I’ll just say now that the meeting was very encouraging, and our friend shared some very helpful advice, which is always a good thing. But what occurred on either side of the meeting was pretty frustrating.

Firstly, prior to the meeting with our friend, Jon and I decided to eat out for lunch at KFC. It was half an hour before the scheduled meeting- we thought the service would be quick and that we’d arrive at where we were meeting our friend with plenty of time to spare. However the person in front of me spoke on the phone loudly for a long time, while she was ordering, and hence we had to rush to our meeting with some of our food still in our hands. As for what happened after the meeting; let’s just say that the bus broke down (more like the back door couldn’t close properly), and we had to walk quite a while away to the next bus stop (without the refund of the first ticket). What should have been a 2 1/2 hour round trip turned out to be nearly 3 1/2.

Nevertheless, when I look back on the chunk of Friday that could’ve run a whole lot smoother than it did, there is a lesson to be learned, and a message to gain from the mishaps that occurred. And that lesson, after much reflection, that I think you would all benefit from, is this- that stuff can happen in our days that makes our days seem like one of those ‘meh’, or ‘I wish the day was different’ kind of days. However if our identity is in Jesus Christ, the one who made the messy days as well as the good days, then circumstances and people’s opinions, and our crazy choices, shouldn’t reflect how we view our day or our life. Because Jesus Christ made each day, and made us in His image, we are perfect in His eyes, and every day is a gift to be celebrated, no matter what happens. Though every circumstance is not from Him, God uses every circumstance for His glory, so even if it’s something simple like a bad day, God will turn that bad day around in the grand scheme of things and make His name famous in the midst of the chaos.

Just a thankful prayer that we are alive is more than enough to tell God, the giver of our days, that we appreciate Him being our Father and our Saviour. Sometimes we like to be in control of every situation, but Jesus did say that to gain heavenly riches, we are to lose ourselves for His sake (Matthew 16:25). As our identity is in Jesus Christ, like I mentioned; then we won’t be swayed by our feelings or anything else, and our security would be grounded. If our security is grounded in Christ, it would be easier in giving up control to Jesus knowing that everything turns out to be for the good of the Kingdom. Had I been actively dwelling upon and thinking of this part of scripture on Friday, then I would be more at peace than I was. I would have said something like ‘You know God, the bus may be late, and the person in front of me may be incredibly loud, but God you still reign on Your throne and You have a greater plan even for this day that I can’t see, and that I trust more than my eyes’; instead of being nervous and fretting for no reason. So I got home an hour later…but does saving an hour really matter in my 25 years on this earth at this moment? Hindsight is a funny thing, isn’t it?

What do you do when you are faced with an impossible situation or something that you can’t control? Do you pray and give it over to God or try to overcome things in your own strength? Check out these two videos from Francesca Battistelli below, that remind us that worrying and trying to do it all in our strength isn’t worth it. Fretting about circumstances beyond our control isn’t going to change it, but giving everything over to God can.

3 thoughts on “Message Mondays: When We’re Faced With A Frustrating Situation!”

  1. I love playing those two songs(with Franny being my fave musician) when I am faced with a frustrating situation. There’s this book by Max Lucado titled In the Eye of the Storm, it talks about how Jesus can relate with the calms of the days turning into chaos. Not all the time but a few times, I have to calm down to tell myself that things don’t always have to go my way; and perhaps God may be trying to teach me something as a result of my “let Your will be done and not mine” prayer.
    This message fits well with Monday because “Mondays” are almost always frustrating. Thanks Josh. 🙂

    1. Glad that you liked the post, Mercy. I think everyone can relate to having bad days, and this post was meant to encourage us by reminding us that Jesus is with us always and that His greater plan goes beyond my finite view based on my circumstances, which are always fickle…

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