Little did I know when I wrote those words last week that I’d return to them the next day and the next and the next. . .
I wrote them Tuesday night.
Late Wednesday morning, a fourteen-year-old girl whom I know was in an accident and flown to the hospital; she seems to be doing well, but there’s still a lot of unknowns and a long journey ahead of her and her family.
I didn’t find this out until Thursday, but also on Wednesday, one of my favorite authors, Dr. Robert Lesslie (author of Angels in the ER, etc.), his wife, two grandchildren, and two other men were shot; the one guy was in critical condition last I heard, but the others died.
I got another update on a friend of a friend I’ve mentioned before. I think some things are a bit better, but other things are worse.
Those are three “big” things, but there are several other things that, all added up, made for an emotional week.
But they’re not my burdens to bear.
Yes, it’s good that I have a heart for others. Yes, it’s good that I cry and pray about all these things. Yes, it’s good that I long for a day/place when all will be well.
But I need to surrender. To hand it all over to God and let Him take care of it–because I can’t accomplish anything anyway. To spread it out before Him. To remember He is in control, He is good, He – He is–and I can have hope.
Solace comes with surrender. After we have asked the hard questions and acknowledge who God is, there comes a point in our struggle where we have to give it to God. God is obviously in control of our lives, and that is an amazing thing (although sometimes we forget how great it is). While the storm is raging around or within us, we have to surrender our lives and circumstances to God. He is a safe, trustworthy person who has our best interest in mind. Once we believe that incredible truth, peace will come.
Mary Lynn Derstine, “Solace in Everyday Life,” Priceless: Issue 20
Surrender. The word means to “cease resistance … and submit to their authority,” to “give up or hand over (a person, right, or possession),” “to give up control of something or to give something up to another.”
God is in control, He has a plan, He has all authority and power, and His will will be done–no matter what. So I might as well “cease resistance … and submit.” He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and always good. So to “give up or hand over” all these people and situations and feelings is the best thing to do. I’ll know they are in good hands. I don’t have any control over these people/situations–I can’t really do anything to change anything. So giving up control actually benefits me.
I don’t want to lose my big/soft heart. I don’t want to stop feeling for others, shedding tears over them/their situations. I don’t want to stop caring, to become apathetic or complacent.
But I also don’t want to worry. I don’t want to try to take over God’s job (like I ever could). I don’t want to resist Him. I don’t want to hold onto things that aren’t even mine to hold onto in the first place, things that I have no control over and that would be better off in His capable and loving hands.
It’ll be a long, hard, delicate dance–but I can dance to grace and know that He’s right there with me, loving me no matter what.
He is, and He’s got this–and me.
That’s why I hope.
For H and her family/friends. For Dr. Lesslie’s and the others’ families and friends. For E and M and H and S and others involved. For JB. For T.
He is. There is hope.
Amen!