“You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you choose to respond.” The words of some ‘wise-guy’ echoed in my empty mind when life threw a curve-ball at me recently. It’s incredible the one-liners we remember in our darkest moments. Even more so, the simple Scriptures that become life-rafts to us when we feel like we are drowning. Never have I been so grateful for the early Sunday mornings where I have dragged myself off to church to sit under the teaching of the Word, or the hours of devotional time where I poured over the Scriptures hoping and trusting that the words on the page would take residence in my mind and spirit. In a moment of utter turmoil, laying in bed, questioning what God had for my future, it was this quote that unlocked something in the supernatural. Suddenly I remembered the memory verses learned in the daily discipline of my faith, providing sustenance and strength in a moment where I felt weak and useless. Like the sweet promise of John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” And the confident words of Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.” And what about the calming knowledge of Colossians 1:7: “He is before all things and in him all things hold together.” I could go on, but as I lay there in the darkness, the presence of God fell upon me, He appointed angels to protect me (Psalm 91:11), and I gratefully realised that the persistent practice of spending time in God’s presence daily was paying off in this moment. For when the fight was at my door, I was able to stand firm.
