Letting It Go

It is officially spring now! God is blessing us with hints of beauty everywhere we turn. Spring is one of my favorite seasons because of this. It is such a clear picture of our rebirth as children of the Light rather than children of the Darkness. What a perfect week to reflect on this, too, since it is Easter week! As I have thought about this, I'm just astounded how much our spiritual rebirth and the new growth of nature correlate. For us, He had to die. Perfect, blameless, holy. He died for me. A pitiful sinner in need of a Savior. It is almost the same with Spring... in order for there to be new life, the old life had to pass away, like it did in the Fall and Winter. No longer is there ANY evidence of the old, only the beauty that comes from the new is seen. So should we be. No longer are we our old selves. That should no longer be evident in our lives, only the new purified self. 

Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Believe me, it is the HARDEST thing to do. There are many times where I am SO grateful for God's mercies that are new everyday. Often, I catch myself thinking, "WHY did I just do/say that? That was not even close to anything that would glorify my Savior. What was I thinking??"

Well, that is totally the gift of forgiveness. When Christ died on that cross-- the cruel, painful, wretched cross-- He took the weight of every sin upon His shoulders out of His love for us. How GREAT is our Savior. He did not have to face that tragic death. He has the power to control everything, yet he purposefully chose to suffer for us. How great is our God!

Oh, and I said He has the power to control everything... AND I said it was Spring! Well, God has His way of reminding us little things like that.

Let's just say, it snowed the other day. SNOWED. Like, two days earlier I was outside playing tennis in nice weather, and then what? It's freezing! And snowing!!

I can't complain, though. The snow sure is gorgeous. But, seriously, at the end of March? Are you kidding? 

God wasn't surprised that it snowed. He never is surprised about anything, because He is the creator and planner of everything. He is in control! This can be a comforting thought, but to an independent person who likes to call her own shots (me), this can be hard at times to accept. Sometimes, we want things to go our way; that way may be COMPLETELY different from His way. And, of course, God always has His way! Even though we can't understand it now, or we may think it wasn't for our good, He has a plan. 

This has always been hard for me to grasp for some reason. Recently, I have tried to control certain parts of my life, and then giving God the rest. I'm basically saying, "You know what, God? I get that you have a perfect plan for me, and that you are doing this for my good and not for harm and stuff... but I think I have a really good idea for this part right here... yeah, I'll just take this part and work on it over here, and you can have the rest to do with it what you want, okay?"

Let me just tell you, that is absolutely exhausting and stressful. This one small thing with the weather just reminded me that I am not in control. No matter how hard you or I try, we will never control anything. We can try as hard as we want to, but when it comes down to science, we can't control the weather! It just isn't possible! It's the same with our lives, believe it or not. 

He is not just our Savior, He is our Lord. He has control, and we just need to let it go. Let go and let God work in your life. It is so much more fulfilling than anything this world can give.