Holding things loosely...

Why is my mind on this today?  Probably because Kristen leaves next week for Honduras AGAIN.  Josh started a full time job this summer and his senior year of high school is just around the corner.  The "grace to let go" has been growing in my heart year after year.  Doesn't mean I like the change, but I love His supernatural peace!  It's obvious when He is at work in this way in my heart, because, for the record, I don't like change - at all!

This year one of those things you think will only happen to someone else, happened.  Someone stole our identity and filed taxes with it! It has locked up our return and a lot of time!  But, we have watched God work way outside the box to move in our family.  That tax return was meant to pay for part of Steve and Josh's trip to Honduras this summer.  That same grace to let go and trust gently fell into place in my heart.  It's not something you can explain, it's just there, REALLY THERE!

It's not easy, but the best way to live a surrendered life is to hold things loosely. My sister taught me that term and I love it!  It's another way of saying James 4:15 "Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

Our grip needs to be tight on Jesus and loose on everything/everyone else! Hebrews 12:26-28 says, " At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised,“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire."

Ironically, to sense this deepest grace, you have to live in uncomfortable circumstances... they often go hand in hand.  There have been other significant things this year that have been testing grounds for this trust.  I have to be honest, I don't always walk in this grace.  Sometimes I stew for hours, days, weeks, "what is going to happen God?"  "Lord, please give me a sign."  "Lord how will this work out in this child?"  "Lord how will I get through this flare?"  "Lord, another ACL? Really?"  "Lord will You be there for that friend?  Let them feel You?"  "Lord will you give stamina?" "Lord will you help that addiction?"  "Lord will you turn all the cravings of safety into cravings for You?"  Lord, I trust you, but I'm crying...but I trust you."  I'm so thankful Jesus put Mark 9:24 in the Bible, "Lord I believe, help my unbelief."  It's OK to be there!  Back to my song, Oceans, by Hillsong, wow.  But it's so sweet to land in His strong arms and rest there!

One thing He has been reminding me this year, it to praise praise praise!  Praise is more important than answers!  Praise lets us lift our gaze!  Colossians 3:1-3, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.…" I love to raise my hands in praise!  Sometimes even when I'm running!  I try to be on back roads for those moments!  But, it reminds me, if you run with your hands unclenched, you run better. May we run this race of life with unclenched hands. 

 Hebrews 12:1-3 says, " Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

We don't really control anything, so why do we try so hard? There is a beautiful peace in letting go and trusting the Creator of the Universe, our Father in Heaven, Who is in control. And that brings our spiritual Daddy so much joy! Letting go often tears your heart into pieces...but we can pray for God to fill in those cracks with His sealing love and grace.

Letting go is when God MULTIPLIES!  His grace is multiplied when our kids go out, our friends reach out, move away, when someone is sick and the Body gets to move in and serve.  Or when we go to another country and our eyes are opened to so much more of His Kingdom at work!  It gets multiplied when we stay there, or come home  because we see more ways we can serve.   Either way,  God multiplies what we let go!  It doesn't mean I don't have aches in my heart, but in time, it turns the ache into joy.

Multiplied, NeedToBreathe

Good Good Father, Housefires II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0gwz_IDY7w

Oceans, Hillsong

Though You Slay Me, by Shane and Shane

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