Choose Your Battles

As our boys were growing up we, like all parents, faced challenges during the teen years. By the time our youngest son became a teenager I had learned to choose my battles. Getting stressed out over green hair just wasn’t worth it. People would ask me a lot, “Doesn’t it bother you that his hair looks like that?” I would smile and say, “It’s just hair and I know next week will be a different color.” And it was.

Everyday can be a fight for something or with someone if we choose. We can learn to choose our battles wisely, and fight for the things worth fighting for.

The truth is there are some things and some people we will never be able to change.  God has given each person a free will, the ability to choose between what is right and wrong. I am reminded of another situation our family was facing several years ago. I did everything I knew to do to try to fix the problem. No matter what I did it only got worse. There came a day that I reached the end of my rope and realized their was nothing I could do that would change the situation. It was at that moment I was reminded of a verse in the Bible.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood...” Ephesians 6:12

Slowly, I began to give this situation to God in prayer. Things didn’t change over night, but change did come over time. Not only in the situation but I changed in the process.  Because I knew this was a battle I wasn’t going to win on my own.

It doesn’t matter what you are facing today. God is able to bring peace to your heart in the midst of it. Ask Him to help you to choose your battles and to give you strength as you walk your journey. Remember, it takes a long time to turn a battleship around but in time it will eventually be going in a new direction.

My prayer for you today:

Father God, I ask that You would help each person who reads this blog. Help us all to understand as we face life’s challenges that there is an unseen spiritual war going on and that our real battles are not with people but against the enemy of our souls. Send your Holy Spirit to give us the wisdom to know what issues are worth fighting for; help us to walk away from meaningless battles; and remind us that the best way to win the battles in our life is on our knees in prayer. Help us Father, to surrender all to You today and choose to put our hope in You. In Jesus Name, Amen.