“Please call me, it’s about Dad.”

This is the type of message that no one wants waiting in their inbox — yet, this was the message I received recently from my sister regarding a health crisis my dad was facing.

Me, being the oldest sibling, had to put on ‘my big sister pants’ and remain calm as I tried to get out of my frantically-sobbing-sister the health news she was waiting to share.

As I hung up the phone and with my ‘big sister pants’ still intact I thought logically, “What does this mean?” “How serious is it?” “What’s the first, second, third step…?” 

Then, suddenly this logical ‘big sister’ mindset ferociously morphed into (what I’ll call) daddy’s-little-girl-emotions and immediately, my mind went from logical to worse-possible-case-scenario!

Has this ever happened to you?  It’s amazing how our mind can go from calm, cool and collected to a raging river in a matter of milliseconds!

Thoughts, emotions and what-ifs came flooding in like a dam that just gave way.

That river of ‘what ifs’ desperately wanted to take me downstream, but I know – God always provides a life jacket.

  
I was able to cling onto God’s scripture and promises and stay afloat – like a radiant sun, it came pouring in and calmed that raging river.

As I allowed God to work in me during this time He taught some valuable lessons that I wanted to share. Hopefully, if you’re ever faced with a crisis situation, these life jacket lessons will help you stay afloat:

1. Pray and invite others to do so as well

Prayer is critical everyday but most certainly in crisis situations; usually our first ‘fleshy’ reaction is to panic — which we all know breeds doubt, fear, and anxiety and ultimately gives way to the raging river I spoke of earlier!

In this moment of panic, I immediately turned to the one weapon I had – prayer.

Then I realized, what’s better than just one person praying but a whole army of passionate prayer warriors.  What a feeling to know that people all around you are praying on your behalf. This in and of itself brings a sense of peace.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16)

2. Study His word

Don’t turn to the internet or people or books for answers to your questions; turn to the one who can provide pure wisdom and understanding. Turn to God’s word for the answers and most importantly, comfort. It’s astonishing how Gods word comes alive and casts out all fear.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews‬ ‭4:12)‬‬

3. Allow yourself to grieve

When you’re dealing with a painful or uncertain situation, it’s okay to grieve, to cry, to be sad. The Bible says there’s a time to mourn, a time to cry (Ecclessiates 3:4).  Just make it a point to grieve out of love and not out of fear. 

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” (‭‭I John‬ ‭4:18‬)

Allow your grief to be an emptying of your emotions so that God can fill you with His peace.

4. Salvation is urgent

Our one purpose and commandment from God is that we share his word to the ends of the Earth so that none should perish but all should have everlasting life. How often do we let fear, timidity and sometimes pride keep us from this calling?

We don’t know the day or time that we are done on this Earth but whether it’s for one more day, one more week or 20 more years, our salvation and the salvation of others is most important. 

How selfish would it be if we didn’t share God’s love and allow others the opportunity to experience Him in His purest form. 

My take away for you is to practice these things on a regular basis so that when crisis hits, it doesn’t take you downstream and if it tries to, just know, God always provides a life jacket. 

  
Stop & Reflect: How do you handle crisis situations or bad news or uncertainty? Is there a lesson God is trying to teach you this very moment?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feel free to share you heart in the comments below.

Thanks for visiting, God bless.

Anita Marie

(P.S. Thank you to all for yours prayers for my dad, he is much better but still has a long road ahead of him; please continue to pray for his continued health.)