How Is It Possible to Manage Frustration?

Frustration can be used as a positive motivation to make better decisions, to find a new purpose for living as well as experience more enjoyment in each day. Living on the cutting edge of frustration is a recipe for overreacting to the normal issues of life.

In Jesus’ day a Roman soldier had the legal right to command any citizen to carry his backpack for one mile. Walking was the basic means of travel for most people, so imagine carrying a soldier’s backpack for a mile. Jesus instructed his followers to go an extra mile, for then it was a choice.

Choosing diminishes frustration, especially by realizing God is at work to help process what is most important at the moment of frustration. To prevent frustration from producing self-defeating behaviors, realize Jesus is present and active and ready to help you choose at the actual moment of whatever you’re experiencing.  

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The Lord is good to those who hope is in him, to the one who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

~Lamentations 3:25-26 New International Version

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Craving Godly Blessing

When Isaac sent Esau, his eldest son, into the country to hunt game for a special meal to celebrate Isaac’s giving Esau his blessing, guess who was secretly listening to the conversation? Esau’s mother Rebekah was concerned that Jacob, her favorite son, would miss out on God’s promise to her.

Just think about it. God had promised Rebekah that Jacob would become patriarch of the family, but God’s plan was to supersede Rebekah’s. Guess what? She couldn’t wait for God, so she devised her own plan. She didn’t realize that taking matters into her own hands was an invitation to disaster, especially when it negated God’s purpose.

God wants us to wait for his plan even when it appears impossible to acknowledge delays of any kind. God’s purpose is for us to develop endurance, the capacity to hold onto faith, especially where fear abounds. Endurance includes trusting God even as the impulse to run forward is overwhelming. God is the Lord of all hope so stay fixated on that hope.