let.it.go. week 6 blog topics

LEAN ON HIM

Psalm 91:2 (AMP)

I will say of the LORD, He is my Refuge and Fortess, My God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!

As I come to the conclusion of the Let.It.Go. online Bible study this verse is a huge take away for me. I love the Amplified version that reminds me to not only trust but to trust with CONFIDENCE!!

Here are a few other thoughts from Karen’s book I found worth noting:

p. 213-214

Alter and Altar

We must alter our mind-sets; willingly decide to let go.

We must alter our actions.

We must alter our desired outcomes. (HUGE for me!!)

We must alter our speech.

Yes, we must alter. We must come to THE ALTAR!

At the altar we lay down our rights, our wrongs, our desire for control, our need to constantly have the upper hand.

God is God and we [I] am not!

Will I stop running the show and start walking in faith?

Yes, Lord! Yes!!!

STUNNING OR LOPSIDED

He is the Potter and we are the clay. I am learning to relinquish control so that He can mold me into something stunning not something lopsided.

p. 209

What matters isn’t that I get my own way. What matters is people.

I must remember to ask myself…

In light of eternity, is this really important?

p. 211-212

A woman who has relinquished her control…

Doesn’t try to alter her circumstances. She accepts them, embracing all God is teaching her as she obediently takes the next step toward the unknown on earth but the certain in heaven. She forms her words and makes her choices not in light of “what’s in it for me?” but in light of eternity.

WITH THAT READ….

Now that the study is over and I know better….the only response is to do better! Remembering to run to the throne of grace and ask for help from the Lord. I cannot do this on my own.

What God has shown me is that:

Pursuing control is not a godly goal…..in fact, often times I’ve found myself being God instead of being godly. 

Oh Father, thank you for this study and for exposing in me the desire for control and how devastating that sin is to You, my husband, and my family. Father, convict me quickly when I mess up so that I can get back on track and keep my eyes focused on You. You alone are worthy praise! Thank you Father for your mercy, patience, and love.

let.it.go. week 5 blog topics

SOUND OF SILENCE

Psalm 62:1

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. (ESV)

God, the one and only – I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? (MSG)

I will wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. (NLT)

Ahhhhh……silence! A highly valued commodity around my house…..one of the benefits of being an early to bed and early to rise girl is that I don’t mind getting up while there are still several hours of dark left; but one of the downfalls is that such gals seem to produce little ones who also love to get up at the crack of dawn!! My 9 year old is regularly up around 6 am and loves to come downstairs and see what we are up to! Most mornings she will find me reading or doing my devotion time. And I’ll admit that more often than not...I do tend to get a bit perturbed that I’m being disrupted in my time with the Lord…..but what I’ve come to see is that she does respect this time and is content to find something quiet to do on her own when she wakes up….knowing that this time is special and important to me.

God has given me such a voracious appetite for “eating the word” as Sharon Glasgow would say! I would just study, read, and ruminate all day if given the chance. I am just so amazed at how applicable God’s Word is to all aspects of my life and so awed at how His Word has changed me, my marriage, and my family. He is an awesome God and I just love being still and spending time learning more about His character! The more I study the more I realize how much more I have to learn and I pray that I never tire of learning more about our precious Savior and Lord. This is how I can “keep an eye on my spillage” as Stephanie Clayton says! I have a deep need to fill myself with His Word so that what overflows from my heart,  my mouth, my actions, and my thoughts are only His thoughts and not my own sinful twists of selfishness.

Lord, You are truth. Your Word is truth. Thank you for your Word that is alive and living and active. Thank you for the invaluable gift of your Words for us. Thank you that reading your Word is so accessible in our country. Thank you for being with me when I study. Help me to learn more about You and let those lessons sink in deep not just in my mind, but in my heart. Amen.

SOUL CONTROL

pg. 168 Let.It.Go.

“But God often places us smack-dab inside the waiting room – on purpose. There we drum our fingers. We scheme and plot. We move and micromanage. All the while trying to control the situation…..
Only when we learn to drop the reins will we finally be able to walk in faith. In the meantime, we attempt to exert control and leverage over people and situations by many clever methods.”

Before our call to adoption, I’ve never been stretched and perplexed and exhausted, and frustrated by waiting as I am right now. These chapters on soul control and dropping the reins are so practical to where we are this week!!

It would be so easy, so natural for my “type A” self to act on a list of things that would potentially make our wait for an adoption match go quicker:…..switch to another agency, call our current agency and ask what I can change in our profile book to make us appeal to expectant mothers, respond to recruitment emails even though after praying we don’t feel like this child is a match for our family, oh the possibilities are endless…..It is so very difficult to just be still and wait. Wait on His timing and not our own. Wait on the child that He has planned for our family instead of getting ahead of His plan.

I loved the prayer at the end of chapter 9 and am praying that this week as I seek to drop the reigns and just be still…

p. 182

Lord, when the situations that swarm around me (not being selected by an expectant mother, waiting on potential matches to come our way), tempt me to over control (want to change agencies, figure out what is wrong with our profile book) and underestimate your power (You are sovereign, You are in control), may I pause and speak truth to my soul (Trust and Obey). And then may I go forth (with a happy heart), content in your plans (Your timing not mine), trusting in your wisdom (You know the child that is meant for our family), and willing to accept the outcome (To you be the glory). Selah.

What-EVER!

p. 186 Let.It.Go.

Comparisons. Comparisons always deal an arresting deathblow to your contentment.

We compare and covet and desire to make a change or two in our homes or careers or families or looks. To make it happen, we kick the control feature of our personalities into turbocharged overdrive. Yes, catching up with the Joneses is a never-ending run on the treadmill of dissatisfaction.

p. 190

We compare our reality with the perception of someone else’s perfection. We compare our “yuck” with someone else’s seems-to-be “yay!” We compare our boring and familiar with someone else’s breathtaking and fabulous.

p. 191

content = Greek – “to be satisfied to the point where I am no longer disturbed or disquieted”

This, sisters, is the place God has already prepared for us in the midst of life’s storms. He is longing for us to take our eyes off of our situation and fix them solely upon him.

When we adopt this attitude, we live aloud the truth I once heard Elisabeth Elliot declare: “The difference is Christ in me. Not me in a different set of circumstances.”

When I am tempted to compare or want to get out of life’s circumstances here are some questions Karen reminds us to ask ourselves: (p. 192)

1.    What does God want me to learn about him that I might never discover if he were to suddenly pluck me out of this situation?

2.  What Christlike character traits is he trying to grow in me – patience, trust, compassion, faith?

3.  Who is watching – either up close or from afar – and discovering what God is like by my reactions to my current situation?

4.  How might my empathy for others deepen if I go through this current trial with grace and acceptance?

5.  What is God trying to say to me, not by the outcome, but through the voyage?

p. 193

We need to stop tweaking and trying. Instead, we must start trusting.

This entire chapter just convicted me so much. I felt the Holy Spirit confirming our decision to be still and wait regarding our adoption journey. I felt an awareness of the blessings of waiting and the maturity that is growing in me as we walk this path by faith and not by sight.

My sweet sister, Cayce over at TheFinley7, sent a One Line a Day Five Year Memory Book to me this week with this verse:

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds. Psalm 77:11-12

I plan on using this sweet gift as a way to record His deeds and His work in me as we journey this path. I want to remember His works and record what He is trying to grow in me and weed out in my life.

Thank you, Father for your unfailing love and your endless mercy and grace. You are life to me.

let.it.go week 4 blog topics

**This post relates to an online Bible study based on the book Let.It.Go by Karen Ehman. Find out more about on Melissa Taylor's  blog by clicking HERE!

WELL, THAT WAS EASY!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always); Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]; Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]. (AMP)

Kendall, be joyful.

Kendall, pray continually.

Kendall, give thanks in all circumstances.

Kendall, this is God’s will for you.

Kendall, who is in Christ Jesus.

Oh, God’s Word is always timely! Have you ever searched Scripture for an answer….but you were really looking for the answer you wanted to hear? That was me this week as we navigate the waiting portion of our adoption journey and were struggling through several decisions that needed to be made. I wanted so desperately for Scripture to tell me to follow my own desires….um, didn’t find that verse anywhere. Then I wanted to find a verse that says following and obeying God is easy and always has a fairy tale ending….no such luck there either….

Instead, God gave me these verses from 1 Thessalonians which actually have nothing to do with my wants, needs or feelings but everything to do with praising Him who reminded me that HE is the source of our joy. He is the foundation of my faith. Through faith in Him I can be joyful in all circumstances…not happy about the waiting….but joyful IN the waiting. What a reminder to be thankful for all that we do have. Which is an abundance of blessings. This is God’s will for me….to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful. Perhaps, when my focus is more on praising Him….the desire to have those other questions answered seems to just fall away.

iSCREAM

“If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.”

                                           Missionary Amy Carmichael

Karen Ehman mentions this week on pg. 138:

“Likewise, when someone bumps my day’s agenda, threatening to knock over the nice clear outta me, guess what happens: What is already inside of me will spill out.”

“If I react to my husband with harsh words when he interrupts my time, if I snap at a coworker for her inefficiency on a shared project, or if I answer my offspring’s call of “Mom!” for the twenty-seventh time with a harsh, angry, and witchlike “Whaaaaaaaat!!” I’m simply spilling out what is already inside.”

“Read this verse slowly, allowing its words to penetrate you soul: “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” Luke 6:45 NLT”

My agendas. My plans. My schedules. Ouch……

Too many times my agenda, plan or schedule has caused  stress that leaked out of me and over to my family. What has been on the inside has spilled out in frustration unnecessarily on my family because I’m feeling stressed about my agenda being threatened. Thankfully over the past few years God has shown me areas that I needed to trim in my life. Many of these activities, clubs, organizations were “good” things but just not necessary in my life and certainly weren’t beneficial to my family. Releasing those commitments actually opened a window where God showed me what His Will for me was and how my identity in Him could be best utilized right here in my own home.

Karen’s tips for trimming the fat from our schedules are very helpful and will be a tool I’ll come back to as other opportunities arise…..and I’ve found they always arise!

pg. 140

Putting the Brakes on Busy:

Stand back and ask Why? (why are we doing this activity)

Dare to be different.  (don’t do something out of habit or guilt)

Consider setting number limits. (ex: one activity per child)

Make a list and check it twice. (weigh the pros and cons and pray before you commit!)

Realize how each family member’s activities affect the others’ schedules. (is this the best time for me to be gone? How will it affect family time, etc.?)

Don’t take on more than you can pray for. (love this one!)

Say yes when you feel called, not because you consider yourself capable. (which I’d obeyed this one more)

Don’t attempt to set the world record for the most consecutive years served.

Ponder this truth: The less you’re involved in, the less your schedule will scream, and the less you just might too!

Karen writes on pg. 131 – “We grab the baton of control and keep things clipping along at breakneck speed, seldom slowing down. All the while around us are living souls who, when they don’t get with our program, immediately get on our nerves.”

Oh Father! Save me from myself and please do not let this be said of me. Rid my heart of selfish desires for affirmation from others and keep my eyes focused on an Audience of One. Help us to wisely discern what is best for our family and what needs to be trimmed. Draw me to my knees where I can come back to your source of Truth and be filled with your Living Water that will spill over to my family. Thank you for being a part of all that we do as a family and for your gentle prodding along the way. Amen.

SERENITY

Sometimes, no matter what we do to try and control a situation…we simply can’t.

Things I cannot control with our adoption:

The number of expectant mothers who contact our agency.

The number of times our profile book is shown.

The number of other families who are in the waiting pool with us.

The “type” of family that an expectant mother is looking for.

How many months/years the waiting will go on.

Proverbs 19:21

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God’s purpose prevails. (MSG)

pg. 155 from Let.It.Go.

“We can attempt to change our circumstances. Sometimes it works, but not always. There are no foolproof, three-step methods for making the bad, or just the annoying, in our lives go away. Usually the only aspect we can change about our circumstances is our outlook. So we must adjust our attitudes, alter our actions, and put on a cloak of contentment in order to weather life’s circumstantial storms.”

pg. 156

“Changing our circumstances rarely changes us. What transforms our outlook and us is an attitude shift. It’s God’s job to determine our circumstances. It’s our job to cooperate with him in the midst of them, adjusting and realigning our attitudes with the truth of Scripture.”

pg. 164

“Instead of longing for God to change the trajectory of your life’s story line, look for his face as you practice your faith at each twist and turn along the way.”

Things I can control about our adoption:

I can change my attitude.

I can choose to seek God.

I can be joyful in the waiting.

I can be prayerful not pouty when it gets hard.

I can be thankful for His abundant blessings now.

I can be content.

I can seek to trust God instead of myself.

I can stand, be still, and wait on His perfect timing.

Dear God, This week I was seeking answers and although they weren’t what I wanted to hear – they were surely what I needed to hear. Your perfect plan is where we desire to be. We seek to trust and obey despite the difficulties of waiting. Help me to focus more on changing my attitude rather than my circumstances. Thank you God for these lessons this week. Your Word never fails. You are faithful. Amen.