How we live our lives is based on the selections we make. In turn, these selections shape our lives. The freedom to choose who and what influences our decisions is nothing to take for granted, rather to be considered carefully. 

  The Consequence of Our Selections

By far, the most life changing, transformative and relevant choice I ever made was to shift my belief from believing in God to believing God. 

  My parents raised me to believe in God. This was as simple and as natural as obeying and respecting my parents’ authority. Without questions, doubts or arguments, I knew that Mom and Dad were in charge of what went on in our household while God was in charge of what went on everywhere else. 

But then, a crisis, my father’s suicide, shifted the beliefs I’d once held as true. Suddenly, everything that had once been easy and natural for me to believe, no longer seemed natural and easy for me to believe. 

A crisis can cause turning points in our lives and these turning points may lead us closer toward believing God as opposed to just believing in God. 

At first, the crisis of my father’s suicide led me in the opposite direction of having anything to do with God at all. I quit going to church and Mom did not even reprimand me for my choice. I stopped saying my prayers and wanted nothing to with God and God did not strike me dead like I feared could happen.  

As a result of choosing to eliminate God from my life, my life turned into the joyless task of simply surviving. But surviving is not simple. Rather, it is an excruciating endeavor to subsist on one’s own abilities, and it can only be endured for so long until another crisis arises.

The next turning point for me came when I seriously considered ending the miserable life that I was, I realized, powerless to alter. At the time, selecting suicide was the only route I could think of by which to escape my disheartening circumstances and unyielding load of sadness. Fortunately, God had other ideas in mind for me and I selected the one he offered called life.  

What has changed as a result of selecting to believe God as opposed to believing in God. Everything. And my life is still in a state of transformation. So far though, I will admit to  possessing peace, contentment, joy and an exuberance for life while love, gentleness and affection for others permeates my being from the inside out. None of which I could ever manufacture under my own power or with my tenacious spirit. 

Why bother selecting? Though we cannot select our personal crisis, we can always select what God offers us in the midst of our crisis, believing him.