Let go and let God

 God wants the best for us. 

Maybe it's an obvious statement, but it's become truer to me recently as I've started to dwell on certain parts of God's character.

It says in the bible to cast all your anxieties on Him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). Have you ever thought about how good that is!? God loves us sooooo much that he wants to take on our stresses. (I don't even want my stresses, so I would never offer to take on other people's, too!). God is giving us an opportunity to live without worry but for some reason, we find it hard to let go of certain things in our life and trust Him to take care of it.

Don't laugh...but lately I've realised I am totally obsessed with sleep! The amount of sleep I have each night determines my mood and my productivity for the following day.

 I started calculating at the start of each week how many hours sleep I'd get each night based on what other plans I have. If I was getting seven hours or less I would decide that it wasn't going to be a good week. How was I supposed to have a good week if I was choosing to believe it was going to go badly before it had even begun?

 

God has already said that I can hand my anxieties over to Him. But rather than accept it, I will purposely not read my bible in the morning so that I can get a tiny bit longer in bed. I was choosing 15 minutes extra sleep in the hope that I would have more energy for the day, instead of spending 15 minutes with the source of life and energy itself!

We all do it. And it is often the things that are good that can land us in the sticky situation of control. It could be your job, your family, or your relationship. All are great and wonderful things, but if we put more dependency on them for our joy, peace and satisfaction, then we are setting ourselves up to be bound by worry and stress when we have already been gifted freedom!

 Three things to consider if you are finding it hard to let go, are:

 1) Everything comes from God anyway.
James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above."

 2) Because a God made everything, there is nothing that I need that he can't provide (yay!)
Philippians 4:19 "God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus."

 3) God wants to give you everything you need.
Matthew 7:11 "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him."

 But have you asked? The first step in giving over the control is asking God to provide you with whatever you felt that person or thing was providing you with. Maybe it's love, security, happiness or something else.

I realised I needed to let go of my obsession with sleep. I had to make a decision to trust God that He would give me the energy I need for each day. I started practically by not moaning about being tired and then I progressed little by little from there. God has totally blessed me in it and transformed my mindset. And he can do the same for you, however big or small the situation may be.

 

I love this picture. When we have something good we hold on tightly to it, but God wants us to give it over to him because He knows He can make it ten times better. We won't see the outcome until we trust Him enough to let go, and the sad thing is that many of us spend so much of our lives hanging on to things and trying to stay in control that we miss out on an even greater gift that God has in store for us.

Think now if there is anything in your life that may be taking God's place, then let go and let God!

Emma

xx