Crisis

How has your family dealt with stress and coping with certain crisis situations? I have seen my family deal with it in several ways. This week we talked about the ways families can deal and cope with several different problems. First there's the actual event plus the resources used and the cognitions regarding the experience. This equals the total experience. Families can encounter many different problems and crises. When a family is dealing with a problem currently they can turn to many resources which can affect the outcome of the event. These resources can be relying on the spouse, friends, mom/dad and so on. Then there are the cognitions regarding the experience. This is when the family takes the crisis and decides what to do about it and how to feel about it. It's how the family is going to deal and cope with their crisis. Our outcomes and total experience can always change solely depending on our chosen resources and cognitions. If a crises is happening and we're worried it'll "destroy" the family, it won't! We have control over that. We have control over who our resources are and what we're going to take away from our trials. For example, if there's a tragic death in the family. The wife and husband have the option to turn to each other and rely upon one another. They can also rely upon the Spirit of the Lord and pray fervently about what they can learn from their situation and they can make the changes that are necessary to stay together and grow as one; rather than grow apart.  We may not have control over the actual event, but we have control over the outcomes and what we learn and how we grow.