So… I’m a leeeetle beeet overwhelmed these days. So much to think about and plan for and as much as I strive to “empty” my days of unnecessary activities…something extra always sneaks in.

What I’ve been thinking about most lately is much like a good line in a bad song about thanking God for unanswered prayers because most of my life is wrapped up in lines like those.

Once upon a time, there were a lot of things I wished for and thought I wanted. There were a lot of things I fought for and thought I deserved……NOW.

In my impatience, I may have given the devil some opportunities. I’m thankful for the patience of God, who waited for me to get over myself.

So much has changed.

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“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and give no opportunity to the devil.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,
along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:25-32
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I’ve spent the last few years “putting off” old nature stuff and “putting away” behaviors unbecoming a woman of Christ, “putting on” instead His garments of praise.

• Seeking to speak the Truth with my neighbor and have that privilege, not because I’m “super sanctimonious”, but because I’m living the Truth honestly before them.
• I want to be angry about the injustice, but not gossip and sin in my anger.
• I want to do honest work for honest pay and share generously from all  I am & have.
• I want to build up and give grace, not tear down.       At all.

It’s hard.
I fail often.
Daily.

Not in big major ways.. it’s in the sickly-small and daily-choice ways that I tend to compromise myself in these areas. Times when I have to have the last word or express my “opinion”. Times when my own woundedness wants to wound another. 

Times when pride has it’s way with me. Ugh. Nasty pride.

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I know God cares.

I know when I stumble and fall just shy of the threshold of His glory, He’s near and waiting at the door for me to step inside. That door is LET.

It’s where I must choose to….. let it go. Let go of MY wishes and wants and fearful, striving ways of doing things and trust God to guide me through to His.

LET is a powerful and power-filled response to God’s divine ability to clean up my unholy messes–and to help keep me from making more.

Let = Trust

In this letting, I’m better able to keep from becoming bitter and full of malice when things don’t go my way.  Anger, slander and wrath are not going to be a part of my mode of operation  because I’m content to let God make it right in HIS TIME and show me the way.

And as Henri Nouwen reminds me, it’s a wondrous way that often does not look like anything I dared to imagine….no, it’s really…truly… better.

Letting go,

                                                                                            Linking with the fabulous Lisha

NEWSFLASH!  My next post will be telling you more about this big, huge God-project that’s sending us to Africa in (yikes!) SEVEN WEEKS! I’ve got to wrap my brain around a presentation for Tuesday night first. I am so thankful to all of you who have been praying as we prepare for this “better” thing God has for us to do.

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