“Crises don’t make us who we are. Crises reveal what we are.”
This really struck me when I heard it in a sermon given by a much-respected speaker and preacher from another country. His statement was universal. Yes. Crises can bring out the best and the worst in us.
Sometimes, when we react or respond to a crisis, we don’t like what we discover about ourselves.
On the other hand, sometimes we’re surprised by how much grace we can exhibit under pressure.
Sometimes we’re just too shell-shocked and numb that we black out. Completely oblivious of our bizarre behavior – that we’re doing and saying the most outrageous, idiotic things to other people.
Sometimes we just lose it. We get so angry in the middle of a crisis that we lash out at everyone around us.
Sometimes we escape. Hide. We choose our own poison to forget about the problems that won’t go away. Or we dive into this deep, dark hole where no one will find us.
Sometimes we’re amazingly cerebral – systematic, methodical, calm. Like we’re telling the world, “First I’ll take care of things. I’ll be efficient. Then, after everything is taken care of, I’ll grieve.”
We respond or react to crises in different ways.
But the over-arching thing to remember about facing a crisis is this: the years of hard work we invest in developing our character, our perseverance, our trust in God, will yield fantastic results when the day of trouble comes. That’s guaranteed. God will honor our investment, our hard work, our preparation. What’s inside will come out.
Consider a tube of something. When you squeeze it, put pressure on it – well, what’s inside will come out. If there’s soothing, fragrant cream inside, that’s what will come out. If there’s mud and filth inside, then that’s what will come out when you squeeze it.
One of my friends was confined for Covid last month, for more than 20 days. She had a pretty bad case of it. Immediately, she asked for prayers. Unlike others, she wasn’t ashamed that she had Covid (my goodness– what in the world is shameful about having Covid??!!). She didn’t keep it a secret. She’d text us whenever she was strong enough.
Her updates were concise, factual, complete. We knew exactly what to pray for her. Her attitude was amazing: grateful for any little improvement, prayerful about anything that could be a concern. She even sent me a picture of the view from her bed! And pictures of herself when God was (slowly but surely) healing her, and she was regaining her color, her strength.
At the end of her long, arduous ordeal, she did an amazing thing. She created a viber group to include the medical staff who took good care of her, and had become dear to her.
She said she was going to send them Bible verses, uplifting videos, inspiring articles, etc. that they could read or watch. She very thoughtfully assured them that they didn’t have to respond to whatever she sent – she just wanted to send them things that could encourage them!
Isn’t her response to crisis just absolutely outstanding? There are a number of muddy, murky things she could’ve wallowed in, gotten stuck in. But she didn’t.
She chose the high road.
She chose to be thankful to God in all things. She chose to appreciate the people around her. She chose to appreciate the view outside her room whenever she didn’t have to lie face down on her hospital bed. She chose to trust God, not break down, over her situation.
She didn’t waste her pain.
May we all invest, day by day, in building our character, perseverance, and most of all – our trust in God. So that we will be saved in the day of trouble.
