Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 CSB
What Are You Holding On To?
I was shopping one day and came across some “Worry Dolls”. I was instantly drawn by their bright colors, adorable faces and petite sizes. There were dolls for everything you ever worry about – kids, weight, job, marriage, being too skinny, etc. They were cute and fun, but proved two things: Worry is something we all deal with and are looking for a way to keep it out of our lives; and people are willing to do anything almost to get rid of it.
It is so hard for us as humans to really let go and turn things over to God. We want to fix everything. We want to hold on to that worry and clinch our fists, squint our eyes and fret ourselves into frenzy. As a parent, you may find it especially hard to trust God and really give your kids over to Him. We know we can trust Him, and we may truly do believe that He is in control and that He loves us and wants the best for us. But we have a hard time with the surrendering and not worrying about what could happen.
When we hold on to worry, truthfully we are holding on to control, although we don't like to see ourselves this way. It is understandable that we want to control our world. We want out children and spouses, friends and family to all stay safe and happy. We don’t want any horrible illness or tragedy to come to anyone we care about. We want the circumstances of our lives to play out a certain way. But we have no control over what happens. God is in control, and when we try to take that from him, we believe that we know better than him. We are taking the reigns back from God because we really don't believe he is capable or will do it for us.
We are more willing to give our worries over to a cute little worry doll than to surrender control to the King of the universe. Would this little piece of cloth really make us feel better? Would we rather put our trust into that instead of almighty God? To surrender we must be willing to be okay with things not turning out the way we think they should. We must be willing to say and truly mean "Your will and not mine be done." We can let go and rest in his sovereign love and care for us. What a blessed discovery to make! Most of us don’t usually get to that point until our hands are so full of all we are holding on to that we are literally falling on our face from the weight of trying to hold it all ourselves.
What are you holding on to? What do you need to surrender today? Open your hands, give it to Him. He wants to relieve you of your burdens and give you rest. He wants us to trust him and rest in the truth that he knows the best for us and wants the best for us so we can set it down and leave it with him.
