Letting Go

"... for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." - Hebrews 13:5b

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." - 1 Peter 5:7

You know that saying, about life throwing curve balls at us when we least expect it?  Sometimes it feels less like life is throwing them one at a time, and more like 100 of 'em all at once, knowing there's absolutely no way we alone can take on all of them without getting hit or missing the majority.  Situations and circumstances can be overwhelming and can easily make us lose our ultimate focus, especially when they seem to happen all at once.

For the past two months my life has been pretty crazy.  Picking up extra overnight shifts here and there at work, trying to figure out how on earth I'm going to make it this fall with an overload of classes and a full time job, situations resulting the the loss of those whom I'd once considered family, personal family matters, etc.  I've felt like I've been running in a thousand directions at once with other activities as well, but to be honest, if one were to ask me exactly what I've been doing lately to keep me that busy, I couldn't even begin to say.  While there's been many awesome happenings as well, the overwhelm of so much going on seemed to take precedence.

Last night I couldn't seem to focus on much else except for the one particular issue that's more of a "doozy" to me.  Without exactly intending to, I kind of vented a bit to one of my best friends about it.  The conversation ended with him saying something simple, but it meant a lot. He'd told me that he would be praying.  Not sure why, but when he said that, it was like through him God was whispering to me, "Hey, I'm still here.  I've not left you and I'm not about to.  Just give it to Me.  It's already been overcome and we're gonna get through this together.  You're not alone."

Sometimes situations and circumstances can overwhelm even the seemingly strongest of people. Especially when life decides to throw everything at you at once. And sometimes it's good to just vent out those frustrations through talking to a friend, writing, or some other means, so that they are off our chest. But to pray to God and lay it all before the throne at His feet...that is when the real peace comes. A peace that goes beyond all understanding of man, a peace that whispers truth, that tells us it's God who is in control now, and He will take care of it. We needn't carry that burden anymore. That's when we can look back at it and see God's work clearly, and learn and grow from what we've overcome by His grace.

Written By: Stephanie DeFoyd