{"id":80296,"date":"2024-05-07T10:54:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T16:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/?p=80296"},"modified":"2024-05-07T10:54:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T16:54:23","slug":"succeeding-under-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/succeeding-under-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Succeeding Under Pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Succeeding Under Pressure<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

What does God desire in my weakest moments?<\/h3>\n

Sherry Surratt<\/em><\/p>\n

Everybody faces them\u2014the deadlines, the bills, the expectations, the responsibilities. It can feel like your head might explode from all the stress. Having just returned from a frantic trip to Miami, Florida where my daughter had to be suddenly hospitalized for food poisoning (from a chicken quesadilla), I\u2019ve been contemplating my own response to pressure<\/em>. My daughter was desperately sick, possibly septic, alone in a big city except for the friend who was traveling with her (who coincidentally had eaten a quesadilla too). I had to get to her quick, but I couldn\u2019t find a flight that would get me there as fast as I needed. After selecting the best choice, the weather decided to throw us a curve, and my already-not-fast-enough-flight got delayed three hours. I paced. I fumed. I worried. I developed a headache.<\/p>\n

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you felt trapped and helpless, not sure what to do next? In\u00a0Daniel 2<\/a>, I read the story of a guy who knew exactly what this felt like. Pressured by the king\u2019s demands to have his dream explained to him, Daniel not only needed to be wise but he also had to please a crazy man who had already put to death the other men who\u2019d failed him. Talk about a tough situation!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve thought a lot about Daniel and his situation. How was he able to keep his head when others around him were literally losing theirs? As I read the account in Scripture, a few things about Daniel stand out to me.<\/p>\n

Daniel Kept His Cool<\/strong>
\nEven when the pressure got really fierce, Daniel remained calm. The Bible tells us at the moment when the commander of the king\u2019s guard headed out to put to death the other wise men of Babylon, \u201cDaniel spoke to him with wisdom and discretion\u201d (2:14<\/a>). He didn\u2019t run furiously to the king and demand a reprieve, and he didn\u2019t throw a fit at the commander\u2019s feet. Daniel knew that he could be the next one put to death, and he faced the danger head-on with reason and calm words: \u201cWhy has the king issued such a harsh decree?\u201d (verse 15<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Daniel\u2019s response made me think about my own. When my flight delay was announced, I\u2019d sighed and griped to my fellow passengers in the waiting area (who, by the way, were experiencing the same delay I was). I was none too sweet to the person behind the counter with my words, \u201cIsn\u2019t there\u00a0anything<\/em>\u00a0you can do to help me?\u201d My attitude was demanding. My voice was tense. I wasn\u2019t in control, and I didn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n

Daniel Trusted God with His Problem<\/strong>
\nDaniel didn\u2019t just sit and fume\u2014he took action. Daniel 2:16 tells us he went immediately to the king and requested more time to interpret his dream. After he took time to pray, he then went back and spoke boldly: \u201cThere are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can reveal the king\u2019s secret.\u00a0But there is a God in heaven<\/em>\u00a0who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed\u201d (2:27\u201328, emphasis added).<\/p>\n

I love the statement \u201cbut there is a God.\u201d Daniel acknowledged right from the start that his dream interpretation wasn\u2019t coming from his own wisdom. He trusted in a big God, and he declared his trust loudly. There are so many situations in life when we are powerless. We can\u2019t control the weather. We can\u2019t control our children. We can\u2019t make the doctor give us a good report. We can\u2019t turn our financial situation around in time. We can\u2019t heal or fix or save. We can\u2019t, but we know a God who\u00a0can<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As I think now about my daughter laying in the hospital bed, what power did I have to heal her? Of course I wanted to be there with her and help her navigate the situation. I wanted to hold her hand. But there was nothing I could do to make her body get rid of the infection any faster. Much of my angst was wrapped up in my sense of urgency to get by her side. Me, the almighty mom. Just by walking in the door, all would be well . . . right? The reality was that the God who could do these things was already there.<\/p>\n

Daniel Leaned into His Circle<\/strong>
\nBefore Daniel went back to the king with the interpretation, he slowed down long enough to call on his friends for help. Scripture tells us, \u201cThen Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon\u201d (2:17\u201318).<\/p>\n

I bet you know, just like I do, that God created us with a need for each other. He gave us our friends and mentors, those dear ones who know how to pray, so we can text them right at the intersection of\u00a0I-don\u2019t-know-what-to-do\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0I\u2019m-about-to-lose-it.\u00a0<\/em>I know this like I know my own name, but in the moment, panic causes me to forget what I know. Luckily my husband didn\u2019t. He immediately reached out to our small group who were already texting me before I had reached my daughter.\u00a0We are praying for Brittainy. We are asking God to lead the doctors to just the right treatment and to bring people to surround her until you get there.<\/em><\/p>\n

He surely did.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019m back home and reflecting on the situation, I can read Daniel\u2019s story with new perspective. We certainly faced some scary moments, but Brittany and her friend both fully recovered from their horrible bout of food poisoning with no long term-effects (other than looking very closely at any dish that contains chicken).<\/p>\n

That scary, pressure-filled experience is causing me to ponder some things. Am I allowing what I truly believe to permeate not only my actions but also my responses, even during the moments when panic calls my name?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I know for sure: Facing pressure isn\u2019t easy, and it\u2019s hardly ever fun. But there are people who have gone before me who can show me the way, and there is surely a God in heaven who has control in those moments when I don\u2019t. I can trust him.<\/p>\n

Sherry Surratt is the Director of Parenting Strategy for Orange Family Ministry. She is the former CEO of MOPS International and the author of several books, including\u00a0Brave Mom<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Beautiful Mess<\/em><\/a>, and\u00a0Just Lead<\/em><\/a>. You can connect with her online at\u00a0SherrySurratt.com<\/a>\u00a0or follow her on Twitter at\u00a0@SherrySurratt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2023 Christianity Today<\/strong>\u00a0– a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Succeeding Under Pressure What does God desire in my weakest moments? Sherry Surratt Everybody faces them\u2014the deadlines, the bills, the expectations, the responsibilities. It can feel like your head might explode from all the stress. Having just returned from a frantic trip to Miami, Florida where my daughter had to be suddenly hospitalized for food <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":80293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3380,4661,276,266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-leadership-articles","category-resources-ndi","category-sunday-school-and-discipleship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}