Me:  Prodigal, you found a Menorah!

Prodigal:  Yes,  I was interested in some of the Jewish thoughts.

Me:  I have something I was reading about from Victor Frankl

David Jeremiah wrote in his book Turning Toward Joy

Victor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who spend three grim years in a Nazi prison camp.

“The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action.  There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed.  Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress….everything can be taken from man but one thing:  the last of human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.  And there were always choices to make.  Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision….In the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.  Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually.”

The Word of God confirms the truth of Frankl’s words.

 

I know this week seems to be never ending experiences that make you feel trapped.  God does not seem to answer.  You are weary and the stress is too much to bare.  I know you don’t want to hear this because you just want your life to change at the moment.  God wants you to know that you still have a choice to make mentally and spiritually.

 

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:3

 

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org