Every family must deal with times of stress and crisis. Its one of the greatest challenges we face in life. The daily battle of stress. Stress is a normal part of life. Stress can motivate you to get something done. Families as well as individuals battle daily stressors that effect them to the point of crisis. What kinds of stressor events result in family crisis? The death of a child is one of the most severe crises anyone faces. The suffering and pain for a family is unimaginable. Severe trauma like this is more than most families can handle.
Some of the common stressor's of a crisis are death, serious illness, accidents, loss of work, an unwanted pregnancy, moving, alcohol abuse, and infidelity. Next to death, separation, and divorce, family violence is the most difficult experience people confront.
People react to crisis in different ways. We know that we can't control what happens to us, but we can try to control how we respond to life crisis. Ineffective coping patterns leave people at a lower level of functioning. Denial, avoidance, and scapegoating are ineffective coping patterns. Effective coping is facilitated by developing family strengths. It is taking responsibility, affirming individual and family worth, balancing self concern with other concerns, and finding and using available resources.
I found a quote by President Howard W. Hunter that he said, "Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and His restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong." (BYU Devotional Speeches, 13 March 1989, p.112).
