Sharing our bad choices
Bad choices. We all make them. We are all fallible human beings. And yet we think we know it all. Oh, I know, you will say, "I know I don't know it all." But when someone comes to you with a problem or a decision they have to make, I bet you try to come up with an answer. And I bet, like me, you think it is a pretty good answer. We try to fix things. We want to help. We want to make life easier for others when they are in need.
But how can we make life better for them when our own lives have daily struggles that we don't even tell people about? How can we really think we have the answers to someone else's struggles when we have made bad choices in our own lives? How can be have joy?
My husband is in his 15th year of recovery from his addiction to alcohol. He went through and still attends AA meetings. He has taught me that the best we can do is to draw from our own experiences, our own bad choices when we share with others. I don't always do this but instead of trying to come up with a solution for another person's problems, it is more helpful to listen first and then share your own experience, strength and hope.
Experience, strength and hope - not too hard to remember those three word. If I can share my own experience I believe it will make others feel better about themselves, like they are not alone. They are not the only ones with these struggles. If I can share with them the strength it took for me to get through these struggles, with God by my side, and if I can share with them hope that they will also get through, then I have maybe helped them instead of making them feel less than.
What would it be like if everyone only shared their experience, strength, joy, and hope?
Questions?
Can you do it?
Will you try for a week?
What the bible says about struggles:
1 Peter 5:10 ESV
But how can we make life better for them when our own lives have daily struggles that we don't even tell people about? How can we really think we have the answers to someone else's struggles when we have made bad choices in our own lives? How can be have joy?
My husband is in his 15th year of recovery from his addiction to alcohol. He went through and still attends AA meetings. He has taught me that the best we can do is to draw from our own experiences, our own bad choices when we share with others. I don't always do this but instead of trying to come up with a solution for another person's problems, it is more helpful to listen first and then share your own experience, strength and hope.
Experience, strength and hope - not too hard to remember those three word. If I can share my own experience I believe it will make others feel better about themselves, like they are not alone. They are not the only ones with these struggles. If I can share with them the strength it took for me to get through these struggles, with God by my side, and if I can share with them hope that they will also get through, then I have maybe helped them instead of making them feel less than.
What would it be like if everyone only shared their experience, strength, joy, and hope?
Questions?
Can you do it?
Will you try for a week?
What the bible says about struggles:
1 Peter 5:10 ESV
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace,
who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore,
confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is
faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but
with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may
be able to endure it.
James 1:2-4 ESV
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various
kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may
be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Romans 8:28 ESV
And we know that for those who love God all things work together
for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 14:1 ESV
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to
the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have
divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every
lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every
thought captive to obey Christ,
Romans 14:10-13 ESV
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you
despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of
God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow
to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will
give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on
one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling
block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
Romans 8:1 ESV
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 139:1-18 ESV
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord,
you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I
rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and
my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is
on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ...
Matthew 7:1-2 ESV
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you
pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be
measured to you.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal
weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that
are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are
seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Matthew 22:36-39 ESV
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said
to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.
Psalm 46:1 ESV
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A
Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Philippians 4:13 ESV
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
John 16:33 ESV
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In
the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the
world.”
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