Thy Will Be Done

     The morning light is seeping in, though it's dampened by the grey clouds and swirling snow. The past few days gave us delightfully warm temperatures, but today we are back to January in Northern Minnesota. My Love headed off to work this morning and requested that due to the state of the roads and driveway, I not go anywhere. So, Buirlen and I are all cozy and ready for a snow day.
      Lately, I have been mulling over what it means to pray, "Thy will be done." We had been studying prayer at Wednesday night Bible study and this came up, and it has just stuck in my mind. So, I've been studying it. Throughout my life, I've often heard people add this to their prayers and it had always kind of rubbed me wrong. I kind of felt like, "why do we need to say that, I don't want to say that. I just want to ask God for what I want." But as I've been dwelling on and studying it lately, the concept of "Thy will be done," has been blooming in my mind in such a beautiful and peaceful way.
    My brain tends towards worry. I've found that I can turn about any mole hill into a mountain with very little effort, and this is not healthy. I've been known to agonize over things and wonder what I should do, which direction I should take. I want to do what God wants me to do, but if it's not an issue that is clearly spelled out in His word, how am I to know for sure. But after thinking, reading, and studying about praying, "Thy will be done, " I began to understand something new.
      I texted Luke at work and asked him,

         "I'm studying about praying that God's will be done. I decided that if I'm praying this way, I can just move forward trusting that the doors that open before me or close are opening/closing because it's God's will. And this all sounds so peaceful and relaxing because, if I've been praying that the LORD's will be done, then I don't have to agonize over whether a move is the right decision. Is it really that simple?" 

And he texted back, "It is." And that knowledge was so awe inspiring to my worrisome brain. 

    Lessons, they are everywhere....A lot like adventures. Perhaps, they are one in the same. 

Yesterday's tropical temperatures made for an enjoyable walk to the mailbox!

Happy Thursday!

James 4:15

"Instead, you ought to say, 'If the LORD wills, we will live and also do this or that."

"True peace comes from knowing that God is in control." ~Unknown

Knots

        I like to knit. But, with every new project, before I can start the actual knitting I first need to roll my skeins of yarn into balls. Usually this goes just fine, but every once in awhile I get a skein that refuses to cooperate. It is made of nothing but knots and tangles, and frustration ensues. 
       Lately, I've been thinking of my brain as that tangled skein. The more I try to straighten my thoughts out, the more frustrated I get. I feel the need to be in control, to understand, and have a firm grip on things. I've been starting to realize that my attempts to be in control only make me miserable. I can't figure some things out, and trying to only makes me fret.
      But, the One who created my mind knows how to untangle all the knots I manage to create. I just need to hand it all to Him and let Him ease the knots out. While thinking about this earlier today, I also thought about how kids are often oblivious to some of the harder situations their families may be in because it's not their job to take care of it, it's their parents' job. Well, I am a child of God(and so are you) and so it's not my job to worry and stress and fret(about anything). God, our Heavenly Father has it all under control. Happy Sunday.


Mark 10:15
"Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

“You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” ~Steve Maraboli

The Life Vest

      The girl stood on the rolling deck as the storm raged around her. The rain came hard and fast, the waves rolled into mountains and the lightning streaked across the sky. Suddenly, she was thrown overboard. She frantically started searching for something to grab hold of and managed to find the anchor chain. She thought to herself that if she could just hold on, then she could make it through. However, what she didn't think about as the storm raged on was that anchor was only pulling her down. She was wearing a life vest, but she couldn't get it out of her mind that she needed to hold onto the anchor.
      I was thinking the other day about how all to often we find ourselves holding onto an anchor, a weight that is only pulling us down.  I find myself holding onto some fear or thought that does nothing more than hold me in one spot and drag me under. I feel like I have to hold on or I will drown. But the ridiculous thing about the situation is that I am wearing a life jacket, and if I would just let go of the anchor, I would float to the surface and be able to take a breath.
     The anchor is my desire to control and understand things. I get some fear in my head and then I think and think and think about it because I have it in my mind that I need to understand it and then it will go away. Or I think and think about it because I feel a need to be in control of it. But fear and worry aren't rational and they can't be controlled, so this only leads to sinking, and gasping for breath as the weight of the anchor pulls me down.
       The life jacket is trusting in the One who holds my life in His hand. I need to realize that the way out of my struggle is not figuring the problem out, or beating it into submission, it is simply letting it go and allowing the life jacket of faith and trust in Jesus take me to the surface.
      It says in Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
       I like this verse and use it a lot. It points out that Trusting in the LORD means that I don't actually need to understand or be able to control the situation, I just have to trust Him.
       Holding onto the anchor is only going to keep you in one spot, and it may even drown you. But because of Jesus we have a life vest and as soon as you get the guts to let go of the anchor you will find yourself floating up to a breath of air. The trick is to not grab the anchor again. I'm pretty good at that. I let go, get a breath, and think to myself, "Oh this is nice." But my brain is a creature of habit and it tends to want to go back to what it's used too. As the storm rages you might find yourself wanting to stay by the sinking ship, but it's ok. The life vest is fool proof. You just have to lean back into it and let it hold you up.

Happy Saturday.


“You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” ~Steve Maraboli
     

The I.T. Guy Part 2

     So, as I wrote last time, my work computer was having difficulties. Any way, as it turned out the poor old desktop computer I had been using was simply too old to be updated. So, the next solution was to drag out my dusty old laptop and start getting my files moved over. And so, I began the process, happy to find out that the laptop actually runs a lot faster than the old desktop. Then, the world of technology threw me another curve ball. I couldn't get the printer to hook up to the computer and suddenly my happy progress was halted. So once again, my wonderful dad has been spending many phone calls and texts with me trying to get it all figured out. I try to tell him what I see on the screen in my very un-techy way and then he begins to search and advice and talk me through the steps I need to take. We were stilling having problems and that's when the really cool tech savvy stuff started to happen. Dad tells me over the phone to click here and select that and then suddenly from 300 miles away my Dad has complete control of my computer. I sit back and watch as the mouse moves across the screen, seemingly on its own, but knowing that it's just my dad working his magic. Now the printing problem is not fixed yet, but he's still working on it.
      Did you know that our Heavenly Father wants to help you with your problems? I can't physically see my dad right now because he lives way across the state, but he's still there for me. And so it is with our Heavenly Father. No, we can't see him and sometimes you may feel as though He isn't there but all you have to do is call him. I could have tried to work through my computer problems all by myself and never once told my daddy that I was having problems. I could have done this, but I wouldn't have gotten very far. In our lives we are going to come up against "computer problems" these problems may be seen in sin, loss, hurt and  million other technical glitches. Sadly, we all to often attempt to fix these problems on our own or sadder yet simply give up on them and attempt to work around our "printing problem." But our Heavenly Father is just waiting for that call, "Dad, I need help...It's the dumb printer again. What should I do?" And you know what, He will take time from His day to talk you through the steps, to give you pointers on things to try and tell you what buttons to push and which ones to avoid.
      Now as I mentioned above, my dad has this really cool program which lets him access my computer from miles away. But you know what I had to do before he could take the controls? I had to give him a password from my laptop. He couldn't access my computer without my permission. Our Heavenly Father, the One who gave you life, who loves you and knows yours joys and your pains want to help you. He knows the solutions to all your "computer problems" but you have to give him the password. Open your heart and let Him take control . Because then you can sit back and watch Him do His thing and you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the One who wrote the program knows how to fix the glitches that are operator errors.


"Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely. ... He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken."
~Dieter F. Uchtdorf 
     

Control

        Have you ever felt in control or out of control or like you just can't quite figure out what's going on? I've been thinking about control lately because I realize that I am a control freak. This realization has been slowly settling in my mind, but truly hit home yesterday when I had to call into work sick. I agonized over the decision, thinking "But maybe I'm not really that sick? or what if I'm just being pathetic and don't want to go to work today?" Until my husband finally got through to me and told me to call my boss and go back to sleep. As I was laying there I began to realize that this early morning drama stemmed from my need to be in control. By calling in sick, I was, in a way, letting go of some of my control.
       As I have thought about this, I have come to understand that many of the things that I worry about stem from my deep seated need for control. I worry that I have to continually do things to "Make God happy with me." I often fear that if I make one wrong step God is going to remove His love and grace from me. I think to myself that I have to "cross my T's and dot my i's" I'll be doing okay.  I also see this need for control coming out in the form of OCD. For example,  I feel the pressing need to check and make sure I turned all the lights off not once but two or three times. I check and re-check things because in some way I think my mind believes that I am then in control.
        Someone once told me that by striving to take control and have the upper hand, I am ignoring God's gift of grace. And, it has occurred to me that that is what I'm trying to do. But, His grace came because we can't do it.  He so wants me and you to lay down our need for control, to simply hand it over and allow Him to have complete control. This seems kind of scary to a control freak like myself. But I don't think that I will be able to fully and completely walk in the joy of His grace until I've stopped trying to do it myself. So, my challenge to you today is to recognize that He came so we won't have to worry about the controls anymore and to lay back and enjoy the ride. Have a great Saturday.

"But You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say you will be, everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul
You say let it go."~Tenth Avenue North  


"It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there's nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized."  ~Wayne Dyer