By Rev. Gian Carlo Villatoro
Founding Pastor, Victory Church Odessa
Do you remember when the last time was that you overreacted to a particular situation? Did you lose your cool? Did you say anything that you now regret? Did you do something that cost you a lot? Imagine if you had the opportunity to go back to that particular instance, or to those specific days, or months, or even to those years when you were not able to control yourself.
I want to ask you to do something: think about three significant events from your past, in which you made a mess of things due to your lack of self-control. Now, imagine you could magically go back to those moments in your past, would you do things differently? I bet being able to do that would be better than winning the lottery, right? Why? Because the outcome of the situation would have changed for the better. That would be lovely!
Trying to put things in order of occurrence, maybe the number one thing that you might regret are the words that you have said. Then, the second thing would be the way you handled things. And finally, the decisions you have made. Now, as you have learned important lessons out of those experiences, you know very well that keeping your not nice thoughts or feelings to yourself, in the midst of tense situations, it is a powerful weapon. You are more mature and know when it is best to just zip it!
You also know now how to handle things better by not letting pride in, or not being so easily offended. You have learned to be more patient with everyone, and are more patient with everything. You have become more understanding, and less temperamental. But today the big challenge is still the same, “Am I making the right decision here?”
If you believe in God, if you truly believe that God speaks to you through the Bible, or through a message that you read or heard from somebody, or even better, if you believe that the Holy Spirit speaks directly to your heart, then you know that being sensitive to what the Lord wants you to do, that is the right decision.
Additionally, there is power in counseling. Of course, “wise” counsel comes from godly people. The sound advice comes from experienced wise people who care about you.
But before you go asking for advice from any of these counselors, take your time to write the pros and cons of each one of your possibilities. When you see those options in writing, whether it is on a graph, diagram, or simply on a list, you will understand your own situation much better.
I hope that at this point in your life you already know that overreacting is the worst thing you can do. You don’t want to continue having regrets because of your poor behavior. On the other hand, is there anyone that can you think of that might need to read this note?
