Letting Go

This week I have been keenly aware of my desire to have control over my life. I want things to go well and so I plan the details and hope for the best result. But when that result is less than I had hoped, I am disappointed. Not because everything fell apart, but because I expected too much. I seem to have a habit of that. Setting my goals high to the point that it stresses me out because I feel the need to succeed at them even if they may be too much. Even as I am writing this I fight within myself, saying inside my head that my goals aren't that high or that hard to obtain. Which, in some aspects they are not. However, in other aspects they are. It may surprise you to know that I can set realistic goals, but it obviously takes me some time to critically think and fight the urge to extend my task just a little bit more. I always hope to get more completed than I usually do. On the other hand, my tendency to set high goals has challenged myself to reach for things that previously seemed unreachable. In this aspect, I see my perfectionist characteristic as a strength. It challenges me to grow in many ways.

As you may have or may have not gathered by now, God is asking me to let go. To give everything up and lay it down at his feet. I desperately want to do that. I would love to let it all go and relinquish my stress, anxieties, and worries to God. However, in reality this has proven to be difficult. It seems there is always something I need to do or should be doing. This sense of responsibility has been a source of stress because it hinders me from my ability to truly rest. I need to let it go and let God handle it because I know that he can, he wants to, and I need him to.

I hope that you will let go along with me. Here are the encouraging words that God has been showing me.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." - Romans 8

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" - Matthew 6

"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6