Think I'm Having Stress~~~~~~~Let go and Let God

Life was getting rough, several times I heard people tell me to just let go and let God. I had heard it so much that I vowed if I heard it again I was going to scream. Let go and let God! It was like they thought I loved holding on to the pain I was experiencing and unwilling to let it go and trust in God. I trusted God or so I thought.

 

One day as I was reading my Bible and praying God stopped me in my tracks long enough to show me the handprints on the situations I was holding on to were mine. Displayed in front of me were my knuckles shining in white from clenching on so tightly. “God, did I really not trust you to take care of things? Lord, was I that afraid to let go thinking it would be the final move in my life that sent me drowning in a bottomless pit of despair, pain and anguish?”

 

All He needed to say was, “Karen…” and I knew instantly the answers to my questions. My fear was greater than my faith. My friends who told me to “let go and let God” were trying to keep me from drowning by my own actions not cause to me to be submerged.

 

The next person telling me to “let go and let God” was I and indeed I wanted to scream. Not because someone was aggravating me but because I had taken so long to wake up to the fact that I was doing the opposite of what I needed to do.

 

Truly we hold too tightly on to things and not tight enough to Jesus. We get into bad situations, have horrible experiences and we hold on to these times as if they were some kind of life preserver instead of the thing that tends to drown us. How crazy is that? We need to let go of that and hang on to Jesus. It is Him we need to lean on instead of clutching tightly to the bad times. We need to have a yard sale or heart sale and get rid of all the old things we think we can’t let go of.

 

When you prepare for a yard sale you gather all that needs to go, the things that have no value, and things that are just cluttering up your life. Believe it or not I’ve never had a yard sale but labeled by my family a “pack rat” my daughter thinks we’d be rich if I did. That was just counting the things I had stored in our attic!

Our spiritual life is no different. If we would just get rid of the things that need to go, the things of no value to us that are just cluttering up our lives we’d be rich. Eternally rich in God, rich in His love, mercy, grace, and blessings that never end.

 

Don’t scream but instead, let go and let God. Let Him do all He is able to do by giving up our right to hold on to the junk that needs to go. Letting go doesn’t mean abandoning people or some things it means allowing God the control needed to operate without us slowing down the process of trying to hold on and do it ourselves.

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing for COCWF