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every day. Our entire life is made
up of making decisions and
choices.
True, many decisions are rou–
tine and s imple. They can be
made quickly. But others are
more difficult, especially if they
concern changing jobs, moving
house or resolving financia! prob–
lems. Such important decisions
should not be made hastily with–
out going through the following
three steps:
l.
Get al/ relevant facts.
Th is
includes seeking cou nse l and
gathering information from those
who have wisdom and knowledge
to advise you (Proverbs
11:
14;
13: 1O; 19:20). Find what is caus–
ing your stress. What are your
fears? Discuss them with some–
one- your spouse, a friend or a
minister. T alking it over will
relieve your bottled-up tension,
help you see the problem . and
what you possibly can do to salve
it.
2.
List the possible choices or
courses of action.
You can break
stressful habits by proposing dif–
ferent choices. And there often
are
choices. What are the advan–
tages and disadvantages of each
choice? What does each course of
action lead to? Select the choice
that will be best for all con–
cerned.
3.
Make a decision.
People
sometimes avoid making deci–
s ions because they are afraid of
making a mistake. But we must
have courage to take the risk of
being wrong. We can learn by our
mistakes if a wrong decision is
made.
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f you have gone through
steps one and two, don't procras–
tinate. Make a decision . Once it is
made, the tension caused by inde–
cision will disappear.
Plan Ahead
Decisions for the future involve
planning ahead. Planning one's
li fe is an important coping strat–
egy for dealing with stress ,
accord ing to Dr. Roy W . Men–
ninger. "Most of us are so
caught up in the rapid pace of
life," he said, "that we do not
recognize the importance of sit–
ting down and having a confi–
dential conversation with one's
18
self- to focus on our inner moti–
vations and desires. "
Draw up a plan for t he next
five years, year , month or day.
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mportant q uest ions to answer
first are: Where are you heading?
How can you get where you want
to go? What and who is most
important to you? What is worth
doing? What do you really want
to do bu t never seem to get
around to doing? What do you
really want from life?
Set both long- and short-term
goals. List the actions necessary
to achieve those goals. Be flexible
and willing to change your plans
when circumstances change and
dictate a new direction. Space out
drastic changes if possible. Mov–
ing to a new town with a new job
and buying a home at the same
time will have a st r essfu l
impact.
Here's a daily plan: Make a list
of the tasks you want to accom–
pl ish the next day. Number them
according to their importance.
If
possible, do the most disagreeable
and difficult job first. Complete
each task befare going on to the
next one.
Wise planning helps make hap–
pen what you want to happen in
your life. Besides helping you get
more done, it relieves the stress of
deciding what to do next.
Jesus Set Prlorltles
But didn't J esus say something
about not thinking of the
future? When He said, "Take
no thought for your life" (Mat–
thew 6:25), He mean t we
shouldn't
worry ourselves sick
over what we will eat or pu t on
our bodies. Modern trans lations
render this statement, " Take no
anxious
thought about your
1ife. " There is no need to fret
over food and cloth ing. God can
provide you with the necessities
of life just as He provides for
the birds and the lilies of t he
field (verses 26-32).
The wor ld is very concerned
about food, clothing and homes.
And God knows that we need
those material things to live.
"But seek
first
the kingdom of
God and His righteousness [the
right way to live and think], and
all these things will be added to
you . Therefor e do not worry
about tomor row, for tomorrow
will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own
tro u ble" (Matthew 6:33-34,
NKJV) .
The Kingdom of God should
be the most important goal in life.
But it is not wrong to plan for the
future. God Himself has a master
plan of salvation. Because people
don ' t know that plan they are
unaware of the ultimate purpose
for life-their very existence on
this earth.
T hose who understand God's
plan realize that He is in control
of the circumstances surround ing
their lives and His will is being
done for them. No matter what
kind of distressful situat ion they
encounter, they believe God has a
purpose for allowing it to hap–
pen- that charact er is being
formed and tempered by the
stresses of trials (Romans 5.:3-5
and 8:28).
The apostle Paul knew that the
periods of stress he and other
Christians had to endure were for
this very purpose of producing
and strengthening spiritual char–
acter.
N otice his inspiring words to
the Corinthians, "We are trou–
bled on every side, yet not dis–
tressed; we are perplexed, but
not in despair; persecuted, but
not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed; . . . For all things are
for your sakes, that the abun–
dant grace might through the
thanksgiving of many redound to
the glory of God. For our light
affliction, which is but for a
moment, worketh for us a
far
more exceeding and eterna/
weight of glory"
(11 Corinthians
4:8, 9, 15, 17).
Pau l had applied coping strate–
gy number four:
Trust in God for
strength and deliverance from
distress .
Accept the stress that
comes and respond to it, posi–
tively, with the help of God and
power of the li vi ng Christ.
Throughout Psalm l 07 we read
how the children of Israel cried
out to God in their trouble and
He saved them from their dis-
(Continued on page 21)
The
PLAIN TRUTH