Okay, to start off, the phrase "Let Go and Let God" is overkill and we all need to stop using it. However, let's all be attuned to it's meaning.
Going into a year, I never really think about how much will change, and even more so, how much I myself will change.
These plans on this piece of paper consisted of goals, in which I obviously didn't put into perspective the things that I would experience in 2013, and the things the Lord would reveal to me.
For example, according to this piece of paper, I'm getting married in 2017. Yep. As if I have control over that, let's be real.
And the more I thought about the ridiculousness of this list, the more I thought about the ridiculousness of trying to take control of our lives. Trying to control our lives is about as pointless as screwing in a burnt out light bulb to several different lamps, hoping one of the lamps might hold some kind of power over the bulb coming back to life. But none of them do. It's burnt out. Throw it away for goodness sake.
I feel as though we put so much effort into "10 year plans", "5 year plans", etc., and we invest our heart and souls into making these things happen, and if they don't happen, we feel like we've failed. I can tell you one thing, every single thing I try to plan that is outside of God's will, fails.
I tried going to college. Tried a lot actually: failed.
I tried planning on NOT EVER going back to Kona, Hawaii to be on staff with YWAM: failed.
I tried being the single, independent missionary, who didn't need a man in her life to complete the Lord's call: failed (praise).
I honestly can look back at all of these failed attempts and thank Jesus a million times over. I'm so freaking happy that my plans failed in all these areas. Because here's the reality: all of these plans I had were not in God's will. And that's just it. I was focusing more on the dreams of my heart and not even thinking to ask the Lord what the dreams of His heart were for my life.
And trust me, He has them!
Sometimes when my heart gets weary, and I'm at a weak point of wanting to please people, I will think up all these different options and plans for my life; without God.
I start loosing focus of Jesus and kind of veer to the left or the right and think I know what's best for me and I will just suddenly plan something out of His will. And what happens? The plan fails. Praise God, it flat out fails.
And it almost brings me joy, oddly, when it fails in the biggest way possible. When the door I'm trying to open literally slams right in my face because of how wrong that path was for me. It's quite funny actually.
Sometimes plans will fail in smaller ways that you don't really realize, because of the subtly of it.
I guess all I'm trying to conclude here is the beauty of letting go, and finally letting the Lord take control. Because ever since I have planned things in His will, it has obviously come to pass. And it has been far more outstanding than any life I could have ever dreamed up for myself.
Instead of getting caught up in the plans and the future, let's focus on the now and how we can love those around us. How we can thrive where we are at and take things day by day, rather than every 5 years.
Strategy and plan is nice, don't get me wrong, as long as it's lined up with the purpose that we were meant to live out.
I thought I had the next 5 years planned out for me, then along came 2013. For 2014 I'm approaching it a little differently. I'm open and ready for what ever it holds. Even if it isn't completely clear yet, I trust that it will pan out exactly how it's supposed to, as long as I'm relying on His will.
