
Now what... Give up, back to the old drawing board or seek out God. It's your choice and we tend to do all three. But picking the best choice for this test called life will advance you from a C to an A Plus with a circle around it.
Here is what I suggest. Start seeking out God. Don't start beating yourself up, that will do no good. We have a situation and our job is to resolve it using God's ways. Why God's ways, because everyone in the world can not prove they don not work. Matter of fact, they work 100% of the time, if we have that faith level. I'm not quite there, so I tell God I believe, but please help me with my unbelief. God knows your heart better than you do. You might be walking along thinking life is perfect and WHAM, life, or better yet, God, hits you with a pop quiz.
Now once this happens, from a million experiences of it, I can tell you two things. Either you are going to play the victim, or you are going to climb that hill and overcome it. Remember that saying, God will never give you more than you are capable of handling? Yep, it's Biblical, so let's break it down.
1 Corinthians 10:13 New International Version (NIV)
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. In other words, you will be tempted just like everyone else, and we can relate to each other because we are in this together. There are no surprises to God regarding what you're tempted by or anything else for that matter. He is in complete fellowship with you, even if you are not actively in fellowship with Him.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. God knows your current limits, and I guarantee you these limits get increased by experience and faith. How quickly you learn this, is how you handle each pop quiz. In life you never fail... Unless you give up. Otherwise, your lowest score is a C and you're always given an opportunity to retake it until you pass with an A plus with a circle. It will always be a pop quiz though, so you have to be disciplined to study beforehand.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. There you have it. God has already set up the path that leads to the A plus. You just have to look at it. The best way to do this is to take a deep breath, count to 5 Mississippi, take several deep breaths without hyperventilating, stretch, shake your body out (all stress relievers, scientifically proven for a reason) and start asking God to show you the way out and how to endure it. Surround yourself with Biblical friends who will pray, turn off the world music and turn up the praise music and if you're feeling brave, open up that Word of God and figure listen to what God says about your situation. Search for it. It's in there.
One day you'll get a pop quiz, you won't even recognize it's a pop quiz, because you've formed such a habit, you simply react by overcoming it immediately. It's then you realize that this time you didn't get a C, you passed with an A Plus with a circle...
That circle that I keep addressing, should remind you that God had you completely surrounded the entire time.
Thanks for being there for me!
Ang