Letting God Take Control

For as long as I can remember, I've always been a planner. I plan my days, what I want to buy, my outfits (days in advance), what I want to get done whenever I go out, weekly meal plans, etc. Basically if you can plan it, then there's a pretty good chance I do. Lately I've been realizing just how much I put into planning everything that I do. For example, I plan my days almost by the hour and I'm constantly making a plan of everything I want or need to do when I go out. When I want to go out with friends, I'm always planning everything we should do but. Lately, I think God's been showing me that when I look back on the really enjoyable times I've had, they've always ended up being the ones that happened in the moment. In fact, I'm constantly planning blog posts but the ones that are my favorite are the ones I just ended up writing in the moment (including this one).

A few months ago I was driving home from work and saw a sign that said "Let god take the steering wheel and you take the passenger seat." I've increasingly been trying to apply this to my life. I think as humans, we each have a plan for our life that we want to follow but God always has an even greater plan that sees far beyond what we can imagine. For as long as I can remember, I saw my life having a career in politics but it wasn't till recently this changed and politics was no longer my passion. I've always felt as if I had a strong hold on my life and where it was going up until that point. I realized how lost I was in what I was going to do with my life and in that moment I turned to God. I think we all try to pile way more on our plate than we can handle and then when it comes time to handle it, we aren't necessarily sure what to do. Lately, I've been working on being stronger in my faith and trusting in God. I've been trying to let him take the steering wheel while I take the passenger seat but letting go of that steering wheel has been very difficult as it would be for anyone.

Trusting in God isn't something that comes easy, it takes surrendering your life to God and fully believing he knows whats best. Isaiah 41:10 says "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." When I started to let God really take control of my life, I found myself praying more and I could feel myself becoming a different person in the ways that I treat others and how I carry myself. I found myself doing what I knew was the right thing to do instead of denying that it was right and that I should do it. I've become less judgmental and more understanding. Don't get me wrong though, it's not like I don't feel anxious or hesitant sometimes when it comes to letting God take control. I constantly struggle with an anxious feeling of not knowing whats to come and I'm always reminding myself that God has big plans in my future and to trust in him. I really relate to Psalm 94:19 “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” 

I'm not perfect, nobody is and I'm definitely not perfect when it comes to my relationship with christ. I have my ups and downs just like anybody else but in those down times, God has always been my anchor. There is purpose and there is a meaning in every struggle and every celebration, and God is there along the way. There's a lot of different ways that you can begin to let God into your life and really start to let him take control, here's a few of the ways that really made a difference for me and in my life.

• Try to look at things in Gods eyes. As you go through your daily life, start looking at how you view different situations. The different judgements you make about someone or how you confront an issue in your life. What would Jesus do in that situation? When you do this, it really opens your eyes to how you look at the world but it also helps you to drastically improve the way you've been living and gives you a change of heart and clear eyes.

• Take time and Pray. There isn't a better way to become more connected with God than praying. Pray for the big things and the little things. Pray for the friend who's struggling or the person you see in the grocery store. Pray for guidance in the big steps in life and the small ones. By praying you're not only becoming closer with God but you're also deepening your trust in him.

• Be patient and calm. It's extremely easy to become impatient and anxious when you feel like you have no control. I've found the easiest way to calm my anxiousness is just by opening my bible and reading God's word. You also have to remember that there is going to be tough times and thing aren't always going to come easy. You have to really put your trust in god and know that he's knows whats best, remember good things take time.

Verses related to this post that I'm currently loving: Luke 12:22-26, Jeremiah 29:13, Paslm 46:10, Philippians 4:6-7, Isaiah 6:8