let.it.go. week 1 blog topics

WHAT-EVER!

Colossians 3:23-25

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism. (NIV)

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. (ESV)

And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work. (The Message)

When thinking on this week’s reflection verse from the Let.It.Go OBS, I just had to include verses 24 and 25 along with verse 23. You see, I’m one who is willing to work hard, work hard with all of my heart, and work for the Lord but I need to claim the promise too! The promise comes in the next verse which you may miss if you don’t keep reading! The promise is that if we know the Lord then we know that working for Him and His glory brings us an inheritance as a reward! Praise! Doesn’t it just feel so wonderful to think of an inheritance? The security of our eternal life with Him which cannot be taken away and is bestowed on us by our Heavenly Father! My NIV Study Bible reminds me that when I can view even the most mundane chores, tasks, and errands as working for the Lord then it takes the boredom out of the task and makes it an act of worship and service to our Lord! This is hard for me to remember when I literally cannot get into my laundry room for the piles on the floor, am following a puppy around trying to keep her from having another accident, explaining for the one millionth time where my girls need to put their shoes and jackets when they come in from outside…anybody else feel this? Oh, that I would view all that I do as an act of worship and service to my Lord and Savior rather than drudgery. Surely this is the only and right response to offer to the One who saved me from my destruction, set my feet upon a rock, gave me a new direction and filled me with a song!

Lord, thank you for this study and for your gentleness in correcting me. Forgive my bad attitude. Help me to do all with a happy heart for your glory!!

WIReD – Chapter 1

Welcome to controllers anonymous! My name is Kendall and I have a tendency (ahem…) a problem with control. If you took the quiz then you’ll understand when I report my big fat 43!!!!!!! I even went to my sweet hubs after and said, really??…am I that hard to live with?!?! He laughed and was very gracious, but it’s sad when you realize: I’m not even sure I’d like to live with myself sometimes….truly humbling.

Case in point from the quiz: I would honestly say that in my personal relationships, I try to get people to understand, and then agree with, my point of view. Yep.

I’m told that I’m pushy, bossy, or controlling. Affirmative.

This one really convicted me….I use words carefully to sway other’s opinions and conclusions. Yikes.

Let’s be truthful. I like to get my own way. Guilty.

And yes…then I was categorized as a control freak!

I loved what Karen says on p. 22-23. Controlling is tiring. So is keeping up a good front. I want to feel indispensable to my family. I want to get my own way. But what these feelings mean is that I really don’t trust in God. Believe in God? Yes! But trust in Him? Not so much…

I kept reading p. 22….We may even read on the pages of our Bibles about men and women who trusted him with amazing results. But we doubt he’ll really repeat this in our suburban, modern everyday lives. We intellectually believe he does what is best for the world in general, but practically we behave as if in our individual situations, we still know what is best. Our lips say we trust him, but our actions say the opposite.

And Karen sums it up nicely where the rubber meets the road for me: p. 14 – The problem lies with our failure to know where to draw the line, to differentiate between leading and bossing, to know the difference between simply taking charge and ultimately taking over.

This is what I am praying the Lord changes in me through this study: my tendency to take over….take over God’s job, my husband’s job, my children’s job, etc. etc. Human “help” complicates God’s program. And I’ve been the source of that “help” far too often.

Lord, You are God. Not me. Please forgive the many times  I’ve tended to take over rather than coming to you. Help my unbelief. Thank you for continuing your work on me. Amen.

OOO! SHINY!! - Chapter 2

The world is full of shiny things begging for our attention. Here are a few things in my life that turned into controlling tangents that I had to LET GO!

(Disclaimer – many of these things are GOOD things, NOBLE things and in and of themselves are not destructive – but in my life, for this season, God showed me I needed to let them go.)

Facebook (we’ve been broken up for 5 years!)

Twitter

Instagram

Serving as my sorority’s chapter advisor

Being a member of my local Junior League

Serving as a small group Bible study leader

Being a Board member of a PTA

Working out obsessively

Being the social director for activities in our cul-de-sac

And ya know what……learning this week that there is a difference between a tool, a toy, and a tangent helped me to see that God cleared those things out of my life so that He could get my attention!

Side note: p. 39….

Tools are needed. – things that help us live life

Toys are permissible. – relieve stress, rejuvenate, etc.

Tangents trip us up. – activities, hobbies, people, or time-wasting habits that knock us off course for an hour….or a year!

I guess I’m just that hard-headed that it took all of that to get me to focus, but it’s true that with all of our choices, activities, instant information, status updates, news feeds, and alerts we get so distracted from hearing the One Voice we need to hear.

And now that I have heard His Voice and am trying to focus more on Him…..it’s amazing how I don’t miss any of those tangents that took up so much time. Most of them too (not all of them…) but most of them, had no eternal value either. Evaluating an activity or choice through the filter of eternal value has become of a plumb line in our family that helps us make decisions.

I’m sure there are other toys that are dangerously sneaking closer to becoming tangents in my life and I want to be aware of not making anything in my life a temptation that directs me off course from following Christ and His direction for our family.

So be encouraged if God is showing you a tangent! The Lord disciplines those He loves! You can break free from it and give it up for Him! Oh, the benefits are too numerous to count and I know from experiencing it myself that through releasing it God can change your life, your marriage and your family and it be all for His glory!