I have learned in my walk with Christ, that in order to grow in Christ, the majority of it comes down to me making choices. A lot of people expect God to hit them suddenly with power, and everything in their life will radically change. It doesn’t happen like that, and that kind of thinking is just crazy.

The other day I was forced to be in a situation that was a bit awkward for me. I knew beforehand that I would have to be extremely cautious and hold my tongue because it wanted to be unleashed on somebody. So, I began to ask the Lord, “How do you want me to handle this situation? I need your help, because I can’t do this on my own.” When I called upon the Lord, He answered.  I felt the Holy Spirit softly speak the nine fruits of the Spirit in my ear (Galatians 5: 22-23), “love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, longsuffering, self-control.” Immediately, I knew the choice I needed to make in the middle of a situation where my anger wanted to get the best of me. And, that was to act with love, peace, kindness, gentleness and above all to have self-control. When I encountered the situation, my flesh still wanted to rage, but I could feel the Holy Spirit speaking, and knew what He wanted me to do.

It is choice, not chance, that determines your destiny. The Lord may have spoken a word to me over the situation, but I still had a choice to make. The Lord will allow us to be in certain situations where we will be put to the test. Tough circumstances build our Christ-like character. I encourage all of you to have an understanding that it is the daily choices we make that determines our destiny of who we will become! When our focus is on God, our feelings will change.