Letting Go

One thing you can count on in this life is being knocked down.

Sooner or later, no matter how well things are going, something will happen that will knock you to the ground, maybe even cause you to lose your faith and your trust in God. You’ll be faced with a situation that no matter how hard you try to control it, it spirals out of control….

You might even end up in place where you’re begging & pleading with God just to give you the strength to make it through the day, that you can’t survive this on your own.

You’ve tried to do the right thing, you practiced forgiveness, you went to those who had hurt you, or who you had hurt – and asked for them to forgive you. Only to have it blow up in your face.

Maybe even to the point of telling yourself ‘I’m sick of this’, ‘I’m sick trying so hard to live God’s Word’, ‘I’m sick of being in pain’, ‘I’m sick of writing messages of hope & faith when I’ve lost all hope and faith’. ‘I’m sick of telling people I’m fine when I’m falling to pieces on the inside.’

God, I’m done!

For me when I tell God I’m done, what I’m really saying is “I don’t know what else to do.” “I can’t carry this burden any longer”.

What I realized however, is this – “What if I’m not supposed to be carrying this burden?”

The bible tells us:

“Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” (PSALM 55:22)

We hold on so tightly to things we can’t control.

And here’s the kicker… the more we try to control, the tighter the grip we place on it. Sooner are later it starts to hurt. You’re holding onto something so hard you can’t do anything but hold on tighter…

But God says, “If you’ll let it go, I will handle it.”

It works like this – When you have a grip on something that’s now behind you; you can’t move forward into what God has put in front of you.

LET GO. Loosen that grip and let go… Release it and put it before God

It doesn’t matter where it came from, if it’s from God or if it’s not from God…

Just know that whatever happens in our lives, it all has to pass through His hands.

You have to release it to God so He can show you what it can become.

There is purpose in every pain.

A lot of times we may not know what we’ve learned until we’re on the other side of it.
You don’t really realize it until later. It’s later that you say, “It was good for me that I was afflicted, because this taught me that. It’s good for me that they told me no, because they were wrong for me anyway. If I would have married them, I would be in therapy right now. I would be divorced.”

It’s always so easy to say that on the other side of it.

It’s so easy to look back and say, “Well, God made a way where there was no way,” but
that’s when you’re looking back.

What really takes faith is to look forward at something and to believe He’s going to
make a way when you can’t see it. I know this is where I often fail.

But I’m trying.

The Enemy will always fight the hardest against the people who are carrying the greatest purpose.
If a lot is coming against you, that means God has put a lot in you.

Sometimes the only way God sets us free from certain things is He has to take them away.

Sometimes what God allows to be removed from our lives is just as important as what He allows to be brought into our lives.

Sometimes the only way God gets us to appreciate something is to allow it to leave.

What you’ve got to learn is to release these things. All God is doing in some of our lives in this season is showing us how little control we had to begin with. This is where faith steps in.

I think everyone has experienced this at one point or another in their life, and here’s the lesson:

I talked previously about how everyone has a story to tell, everyone has a ministry to share that can help others. My own ministry is that of loss, so most of my writing and what I have to share is based on that. I identify and share much with the lives of Job & Jonah in scripture. I have JOB 13:15 on my shoulder and the outline of Jonah’s whale on my ankle as constant reminders.

So, a lot of times in my life the lesson God is teaching me is to appreciate something.

Here’s what I want to ask you: What is God teaching you to appreciate in this season?

Very simple but maybe worth some reflection.

Maybe He’s teaching you to appreciate some things you had become so accustomed to or used to. Think about this, you get used to the things God gives you to the point that you can become used to the people God gives you.

You get used to the simple moments.

Things that used to be annoying you learn to appreciate. This is the meaning, the reason for your season of pain.

He’s revealing things to you that you did not appreciate enough, things you just took for
granted, things you just thought would always be this way.

Haven’t we all experienced this in our lives? Look at the pandemic…

One of the things that’s happening in this season for all of us is God is not only teaching
us to appreciate certain blessings, but he is resetting the baseline of what we consider a blessing. There’s a new baseline for being grateful that’s being given to us. Are you paying attention to that?

Before God gives us a new blessing, he wants to give us a new baseline.

Start with praising him… “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (PSALM 150:6)

Did you just breathe?
Praise Him
Are you still here?
Praise Him
Did he wake you up?
Praise Him
Did he sustain you?
Praise Him

My new baseline to praise Him is just to say each morning “Thank you for keeping me alive.”

So start somewhere, anywhere you find gratefulness…

Start with the fact that He kept you alive another day.
Start with the fact that He loves you unconditionally.
Start with the fact that no matter what it is, your sins are forgiven.

Start learning to let go, and start learning a new baseline for praise.