When I
was younger, I spent a lot of time trying to control things. After moving to Estevan, it was
a struggle to
get to know a new group of people, learn the ropes of preaching
and simply
survive. I had to get a
handle on things
quickly so that I could feel settled and comfortable. For the most part, I assumed
that it was up
to me to make things work.
Then
I
got married, we had kids and life was great!
We had lots of friends. Our
extended
family was doing well. The
church was
healthy. Our girls were
young enough
that we could help them with almost any problem that came up. Everything seemed to be
perfect.
Lately,
though, my sense of peace and control and have started to slip
away. One after another,
several close friends decided
to move out of town. People
I cared
about got sick. Others
passed away and I
had no way to help or fix them. Our
girls grew up and went to university.
Now, they live two hours away and I have no idea how their
classes are
going and, even if I did, I likely could not help them any way.
I
have
gone from being in control to feeling almost completely out of
control.
I
am,
however, learning to pray.
When
your focus is to control everything, you do not need to pray
because you do not
need help. It is only when
you realize little
influence you really have that prayer starts to take on more
importance.
Colossians
4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and
thankful”. This little
verse gives us a good pattern to
think about.
Be
devoted to prayer. Continue
in it. Pray all the time
about everything.
Be
watchful in prayer. This
applies to
others. Watch over and
pray for
them. Care about what is
happening
enough to remember them and trust God to help them.
Be
thankful. Focusing on the
things that
you do not like about your life only makes you try to exert more
control. Thankfulness
reminds me that I am being, and
have always been, looked after.
In
the
end, we must learn to get out of our own way and trust God,
because that is the
only way anything becomes what he wants it to be.
Trust
beats control every time.
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