Here it is Thursday morning and I am just getting today’s post ready. I had been doing well with not only giving my posts some forethought (the closest to planning that I get) and to writing and scheduling my posts so they would publish first thing on Monday and Thursday mornings. But I seem to have gotten side-tracked. Yes, sometimes I am a procrastinator but, truthfully, life is a bit stressful lately. My mind and thoughts are a bit scrambled and all over the place. Trying to create posts of any significance and/or putting sentences together coherently gets pushed to the back burner.
Not that things are drastic or terribly dramatic but I have noticed “in my season of life” (sigh), I find it more and more necessary to handle and deal with stressors one at a time. I simply cannot keep my plate full to overflowing. But I am also learning – more and more – that some (I might say, many or even most) stressors are best handled by just leaving them to Him. Stop trying to do. To fix. Or to solve – everything and everyone. But rather simply let it be. And allow God to work not only through me but for me. This is very much a work in progress but I can see where I have made strides and where I have grown. Perhaps that is one of the perks of “this season.” This season that I tend to chaff against but, apparently, comes with some well learned lessons as well as some maturity – both spiritual and otherwise. Hmm. I’ll take that.
Trusting God. This has been our theme in Junior Church lately. Stories helping us to learn not only what trust means but how to do so. I explain it in the simplest ways to the children and, almost every week, I find myself reminded as well. I can trust the One who loves me most and wants only the best for me. No doubt, we’ve all seen the iconic picture of a child on the edge of a swimming pool with a parent in the water. The parent’s arms are outstretched and waiting for the child to jump. The child wants to be in the water. Wants to enjoy the fun. Ah, but the letting go can be so hard! We talked about a similar story in Junior Church just two weeks ago. And the analogy might be a perfect one for me and for life just now, but I often see myself in the child unable to jump. Knowing full well that I can trust my Heavenly Father but embolized on the edge of the pool. There are probably a whole handfull of reasons that keep me stuck and unable “to jump.” Let’s face…I’m not as young as I once was and jumping anywhere is a challenge!:) But you know where I am going with this….
I love that God is able to both encourage and challenge me with even the simplest of Sunday morning children’s lessons. I need to release my grip. Just as exciting as jumping into that deep water is for the child, there is an anticipation (even some excitement) to see what God will do when I let go and allow Him to have complete control of my situations.
It’s the releasing our grip that’s the hardest part, isn’t it? I understand. Sending hugs.
It seems that you trust God a lot; your faithfulness and earnestness to follow him closely and faithfully shine forth in your writing. You are seeking him and obeying. Sorry about the stressors! I am feeling them as well as a big season of life is changing.
I hope those stressful times will ease Jennifer. Thank you for sharing this and I hope that it gives you comfort. I will be 74 in July, I notice that stress has a very different feel to it these days.
Thank you for sharing your heart and God understands how hard it is to trust Him at times. I’m there, too.
Jennifer, I hear you about the stressors, the things and people and situations that continue to keep coming up. Serious ones. They do steal our energy and creativity and way too easily, our joy. Thanks for the reminder to keep on handing all this stuff over to the Lord. He’s got this. And I am so grateful.
Oh but how good it feels when you finally pluck up the courage to jump and discover that all was ok in the end! I do hope that the week ahead holds less concerns for you.