It’s Your Choice
I stopped at Sonic on the way home one night, to get a lemonade and an unsweet tea for my husband and me. As the young man brings our drinks to the car he greets me and says, “How are you tonight?” I smile and respond that I’m doing wonderful and ask how he is, to which he replies, “Horrible!”
I’m stunned by his reply. So I try to make things light and say, “Aw, it can’t be that bad! Think positive.” He’s not having any of it and begins to tell me about his lot in life, how bad things are, and this is his second time working at Sonic. I’m wondering why he’s telling me so much when he looks at me and says, “Before, I would walk home with sixty dollars in tips. Now I go home with only ten.”
As he’s digging for my change, I calmly look at him and say, “Keep the change. Tip is for you.” Not even this makes him happy. His response is, “Are you sure?”
I respond with, “Yes. Now see? Something positive in your day.” Nope. Not even that worked. He walks away, still venting as I loudly end with, “Gotta think positive, dude!”
I drive away thinking out loud, “Wow, maybe if your attitude was better your life would be better.”
Yet, as I’m driving down the road thinking about this young man (this is the second negative encounter I’ve had with him I realized) and his negative outlook toward life I realize something very important; you have the power to choose which direction your life goes.
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| nymag.com |
You can either choose to be a victim of your circumstances, or you can choose to rise above it and be victorious. It’s your decision. It’s your choice.
Maybe that sounds ridiculous. It’s not.
Maybe it sounds too good to be true. It isn’t.
You may say, “That sounds good in theory, but you don’t know what I’m going through.”
No. I don’t. But you don’t know what I’m going through either.
Now, before you jump to conclusions and think I’m bashing this young man, think again. I’m not. But because of what he has said to me, this made me think. My life isn’t perfect, either. It’s not a bowl of cherries. Things go bad, have gone bad even. I don’t live in paradise with everything handed to me on a silver platter. Life is life. We all have negative things that happen.
However, every day I choose to walk healed. Every day I choose to rise above. Every day I choose to live as more than a conqueror.
Why?
Because God’s Word says I don’t have a spirit of fear. I have power, love, and a sound mind. God says I’m more than a conqueror. God’s Word says that I can do all things through the strength He gives me. He says I’m the head and not the tail. He says that I’m blessed going in and I’m blessed coming out.* And He says much, much more even, but there’s not enough room to include it here.
You may roll your eyes and blow me off – you may say I’m a kook, an idiot, or a fake – that’s okay. Because God’s Word also says that no weapon formed against me will prosper and every tongue that rises against me will fall.
But you know what else? All of what I just said that God says about me… it’s also for you, too.
Whether you believe it or not, or live it or not – well –
I’ll be praying for that young man. My hope is that God will show him how much he’s loved and that God is for him and not against him. That’s my prayer for everyone I come in contact with whether personally or through my videos and blog posts.
God is crazy about you dearest. I hope you know that. All the things happening in your life are to move you toward the wonderful plans God has for you. It’s up to you to learn from them and move into your calling. However, they won’t happen overnight or just out of the blue. Victory is yours. Jesus already paid for it. Whether you receive it or not…
It’s your choice.
* For a list of Scripture used in this post, send an email to shelley@shelleywilburn.org with It’s Your Choice Scriptures in the subject box.
