coping.

Yesterday @ work i played tetherball :)!I was truly afraid of hitting the ball too hard that it would injure the little 5 year old that wanted to play with me. I purposely played gently and she kept asking why i was afraid to hit the ball, and i told her i was afraid id hit the ball too hard and it would hurt her. Well, in the past i really didnt play too hard, but yesterday she asked me again, so i decided to push the ball normally... and when i hit the ball she reached for it and it hit her glasses.... err yeaa i was scared  the impact broke her glasses and injured her face, but thankfully it did not. I asked her if she was okk?? she said yessss. and she said just think of eating a chocolate chip cookie :] she smiled. i was like what?sooo then she explained that once something bad happened and her brother told her to pretend she was eating a cookie... and she felt better! so she applied the same technique as she did in this case to make her feel better. ... basically the coping technique she learned was to focus her attention on something else in order to cancel out the pain. Though she really wasn't seriously injured, nor did she show signs of redness or swelling on her face, i realized there was a bit a pain, but she was so resilient and was smiling soon enough.  Isn't this a type of coping technique we learned as children too? Whether or not you find relief in good or bad such as turning to God,  friends, alcohol, drugs, food, or distracting ourselves something else, we all somehow  find or attempt a  way to cope with hardships,  don't we? What we chose to use in facing our troubles is quite important though. Thinking about eating a cookie may temporarily relive pain, but what about the deeper issues that arise, in which simply redirecting your attention wont work? Which one of those things or people you turn to will really last beyond the present?What is it that you turn to, which offer the best things for you? 

As I am studying about God's attributes, i realize God's never changing character, his all powerful and all knowing attributes are essential in finding hope and comfort in him. Now haven't you heard that phrase people often use that God /Christianity is  only a crutch for weak people or for the weak? mmmmmmmmmm  i somewhat agree. I agree in the sense that i do admit i am weak, and i need God to hold me up and get through these trials. am i to believe that i am strong? that i am indefatigable? despite knowing this, i still fall short and turn to worthless things in order to cope &  in order to escape my troubles. i hope that   those who view God/ Christianity as a crutch may someday consider the possibility that they too are weak and that quite possibly they use  such a phrase as a coping technique to distract themselves from some deeper issue they have not yet decided to face in their life.

This issue of coping has been on my mind as i am studying child psychopathology. my research question revolves around binge eaters and their coping strategies.... very interesting. 
How do you cope?Who do you turn to?

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NIV)