What to do when life hurts….
Many times we often will experience challenges in life that cause pain, confusion, and stress. How we deal with the feelings and emotions can determine much of the outcome of our life’s situations. First thing we have to do is think of the last time you had a challenge or road block in life. Think about what it did to your emotions, and how you reacted in the time of pain and confusion.
Some times we loose it, yell, scream, and occasionally throw a pillow etc. This is what we call expressive reactive, where you immediately express how you are feeling emotionally through your words and or actions. It is called reactive because when we often burst out like this it is a reaction to what has taken place. Many people in life deal with issues in life this way, even though it is not the best way to handle life’s situations.
Being expressive reactive also has many consequences when used. When you react to life’s experiences often you can say things and act in ways that are not appropriate and or what is acceptable in your daily life. For example when your parents get you upset to the point of screaming yelling and stomping off, though you may feel great expressing your anger, many times will result in a worse punishment after being expressive reactive. So you have to ask yourself is the few minutes of victory worth the three weeks of being grounded….? Probably not…
Another way of dealing with life’s pain is trying your hardest to relax and see past yourself in to the situation that is going on. I like to call this prayerful response, there is a HUGE difference between expressive reaction and prayerful response. This also is not the easiest way to deal with life’s issues, well at least in the beginning. You will eventually make this a habit and part of your life after practicing it for a while.
A prayerful response looks like this in the same illustration as earlier. Your parents make you upset to a point you want to scream, yell, and of course ball your eyes out. Instead of flipping out and making a scene you walk to your room and think about what caused the issue and asking God to help you and your parents understand each other.
Many times when it comes to a fight or argument between a teenager and a parent it is strictly a misunderstanding of each other. Prayer does some amazing things in life. If we would just pray about our situations more than yell and scream we would have a more peaceful family than ever before. This doesn’t only go for our families but our friends who make us angry and spread rumors about us as well.
So let’s start being a person of prayerful response and not an expressive reactive. God will do great things in our lives if we start to pray about all things!
Eph 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)
~Pastor Ryan
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