Thursday, October 13, 2022
Why can uncertainty be a surprisingly good thing?
If you’re reading this right now, you’ve experienced uncertainty, and for most of us, we don’t relish having uncertainty in our life. Uncertainty is a fear of the unknown and brings with it emotions of sadness, fear, sometimes even anger and more. However, Nathan and Susannah Furr, authors of the “Upside of Uncertainty”, assert that “uncertainty and possibility are two sides of the same coin”, and possibility has far more positive emotions connected with it.
So what if we reframed uncertainty to be possibility in seeing God at work? You can do this by:
- Acknowledging that uncertainty is throughout the pages of Scripture, and see how it brought great possibility with it, like in John 20
- Thank God for uncertainty. We have the advantage of knowing more of God’s story, so it’s easy to overlook this. They didn’t know what was going to happen next either, yet we can trust and see that God was and is always at work.
- Apply the principle of remembering. God calls us, his people, to remember him. Communion is one of the ways we remember, but so is journaling answered prayers, marking the moments where we experienced God personally and taking part in a group where we are reminded regularly of who he is.
Take a few moments today and reflect on your own faith journey. Where have you experienced possibility in the midst of uncertainty? When did you see God at work, even if it didn’t turn out how you wanted? Keep reframing uncertainty with an open heart towards the possibility of what God will do with it.
Resource: https://hbr.org/2022/07/how-to-overcome-your-fear-of-the-unknown
For Parents:
Sometimes, chronic anxiety, depression, and despair can lead to self-harming behaviors. Finding out your kid or teenager is self-harming is extremely scary and can be difficult to navigate and discuss, often initiating big, difficult feelings for both parents and kids. It's difficult to understand why anyone would want to hurt themselves and every case is unique.
- Have you or someone you know ever had experience with someone who was self-harming? If so, how was the situation handled?
- Have you checked in with your kid lately about how they’re feeling emotionally? How have they been feeling lately? How can you help?