Found this article somewhere in the internet. may read it. quite nice. (:

Nothing Left But the Center Stripe, by Phil Ware

Big bright orange signs were on each side of the road on our dividedstreet. The sign on the right side said, “Left Lane Closed Ahead.” Thesign on the left side said, “Right Lane Closed Ahead.” “Hmmm,” Ithought to myself, “That leaves nothing but the center stripe; wonderwhere I’m supposed to drive?”

Then I got to thinking in that warped way that I often do, and itoccurred to me that I have found myself in several life situations thatlooked very similar. No option on the right. No option on the left. Andeven the option straight ahead seems awfully tenuous and narrow,without much room to navigate.

The term for this kind of situational thinking is “constriction.”Constriction happens when we feel like our options are reduced to oneor two bad possibilities. It’s either “this” or “that,” and “this” ishorrible while “that” is disastrous. As they say in my neck of thewoods, “stuck between a rock and a hard place.” You're stuck withnothing left but the center stripe!

As a friend, counselor, and minister dealing with someone who is hungon constricted thinking, I am supposed to use several strategies tohelp them gather their senses, avoid making a hasty decision in panic,and prevent them from doing something rash. I try to use these samestrategies when I find myself in the same boat.

The first strategy is DELAY. Keep from making a rash move by waiting.As a Christian, my waiting is not inaction; it is waiting on the Lord (Isaiah40:28-31). It is time for prayer and for seeking God’s will inScripture. Often I cannot see the real situation and all the otherpossible options because I’m so caught up in the miseries of themoment. In my driving situation where it appeared both lanes were goingto be closing down, I reduced my speed, drove on carefully, and when Ireached the next set of signs, I realized that it was just the leftlane that was going to be closed; the Velcro strip had just come offthe first sign and so it gave the wrong information. So often in thehaste of the moment, we don’t have all the facts or have misperceivedthe situation. A prayerful delay for a short time allows us to refocusand opens our heart so God can show us another way.

A second strategy for constrictive thinking is DISTRIBUTE. So often,strong people, Christian people, are the ones that help others and havegreat difficulty when they have very challenging problems because theydo not know how to ask for help. Some pious sounding pride keeps themfrom sharing their problems with others because they considerthemselves the helper and not the person needing help. God gave ALL ofus a Christian family for support. Sooner or later, we’re all going toface problems too big for us to handle alone. Seeking the prayer,support, and accountability of other Christians helps us distribute theproblem, reducing the sense of load we have to carry by ourselves andinvolving others in helping us find other options and solutions to oursituation. (This includes consulting a Christian counselor if we can’tget the corner turned on our situation quickly!)

Another strategy is DELIGHT. Finding something humorous in oursituation and laughing at the humorous side of what is going on can bea helpful pause in our crisis and allows us to gather our senses. Doingsomething we nearly always have fun doing can refresh us and break thelogjam in our thinking. Spending time in refreshing worship or goingwith others on a spiritual retreat can be ways to open the doorway tospiritual delight and restore our energy and sense of balance. Simplyloosening our mental grip on a difficult situation and letting Godrefresh us with his grace can often help us see things in a differentlight and find a solution that had remained hidden to us.

No matter which strategy we try, an essential part of each of them iscontinuing to DO what is RIGHT. When no way seems clear and all ourchoices seem hopeless, sometimes we have to keep trudging on, doingwhat we know is the right thing even when we don’t feel like it.Engaging the other strategies become self-defeating if we don’t followthrough with what we need to do — both our daily responsibilities as aperson and our Christian responsibilities as a child of God.

Do these strategies work in every situation? Yes, to a certain extent.However, life has some built-in very hard realities that none of us isgoing to escape and some of these can cascade into problems thatdestroy us. So if you cannot execute these strategies on your own, orif you still feel overwhelmed after trying them, PLEASE see a minister,counselor, or friend and let that person know you urgently need help.Satan tries to isolate us from other Christians and from Christian helpwhen he wants to destroy us whether by direct attack, disease, or death(see Mark 5 for three groups of people who had come to the end theiroptions and how Jesus intervened to bring help). Don’t let the evil onedo that with you; if you are going under, get help. If you have afriend going under, please get them help. While it may seem there isnothing but the center stripe open ahead, God wants to help us find thepath that brings us hope, healing, holiness, and heaven. Don’t quitlooking until you find it!

god bless. (: