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Praise or Blame? Your choice...

We like having choices.  Ice cream comes in just about every flavor imaginable, then you have to decide what type of cone or bowl!  Burgers have become gourmet dishes these days.  Even picking out a bottle water can take a while!  Then we have the Coke machines that have EVERY flavor available.  Ever get stuck behind someone trying to decide which flavor to choose all the while missing your movie???  Yeah, me either!

We do NOT like having our choices limited, either.  Insurance companies seem to decide whether people get medications or procedures anymore, not the doctors and the patients themselves.  We do NOT like when costs go up leaving us no choice but to pay the higher fees.  Here in Illinois, we do NOT like being forced to pay tolls all throughout our state!

You are given one specific choice daily.  That choice often decides the course of your day.  That choice can even change the course of someone else's day.

We get to choose our attitude and our responses to circumstances.  What we don't always get to choose is our circumstances.  And that seems to through us for a loop.  It's easy to have a great attitude, be kind the slow waitress, relax while you wait for the guy in front of you oblivious to the fact the light changed a minute ago, smile at a grumpy employee, etc., when things are going well in your life.  When it's smooth sailing on a sunny day, the choice is easy.  Joy.

But.  What happens when the storms roll in?  When the diagnosis is not good?  When someone dies?  When someone you trust hurts you?  When your marriage dissolves?  When your kids themselves choose a bad path?  What is your choice then?  Joy?

I've enjoyed revisiting the life of Paul and the early church recently and came across this in
Acts 16:25: "After midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God..."  At first glance, that is an inspiring visual.  Two men that loved the Lord so much that they stayed up praising their Savior.  Good stuff.

Here is the rest of the verse: "...and the other prisoners were listening to them."  Oh.  Paul and Silas were praising the Lord IN PRISON.

Paul and Silas had been ministering and continued to be followed by a possessed girl.  The Bible says Paul got annoyed with her and finally turned around and commanded her to be healed.  Hehe...I have a feeling I would have cracked a lot sooner than Paul! :)  But, the leaders didn't find it funny.  So Paul and Silas were beaten and illegally imprisoned for their actions.

That night, Paul and Silas were not blaming God for letting them get treated so badly.  They were not cursing the guards and the leaders.  They were not wallowing in their circumstances.  They chose to praise God DURING their circumstances.  They likely didn't do that just because it was the "right thing to do", but because it had become second nature.  Praising God no matter what was what they lived and breathed.  Whether sitting in a prison cell or walking the dusty roads as they ministered and shared God's salvation message, they chose to praise God.

Because they chose to praise God in their circumstances, not only did they keep joy in their hearts, they also led a whole family to Christ because of this particular incident!

It's our choice.  We can praise God IN, DURING and FOR our circumstances.  Or we can blame God because of the circumstances.  Pretty simple choice.  Drastically different outcomes.  It's up to us.

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