Just some thoughts...

Everyone can read this & comment if you want... It's not written for anyone in particular, it's just some stuff I've been thinking about lately.

We take so much for granted. God gives us so much, & we don't appreciate it. Think about how many times a day you take the time to thank God for things. If you're like me, it isn't nearly as often as you should. Sometimes I'll even pray for something, then forget to thank God when He answers my prayer. It's so selfish. If I was doing all these great things for someone, & they never took the time to say thank you, I'd probably stop doing things for them. But God doesn't do that. He keeps giving, even when we selfishly forget to thank Him or give Him credit.

Today I was reading Matthew 14:30-31. It's the story where Peter is walking on the water towards Jesus. It says "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid &, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out His hand & caught him. 'You of little faith,' He said, 'why did you doubt?'"" This is so typical of our lives. We're walking towards Jesus, & things are great. But when things start to look a bit rough, we begin to doubt, & things go downhill from there. Then the second we cry out to God to save us, He IMMEDIATELY reaches out to rescue us. There is no hesitation.

So why do we doubt? We have the God of the universe on our side. He created everything, & continues to make everything work day to day. How arrogant of us to assume that we know better than God, that we can do things without Him, or that we can't trust Him to take care of things for us.

Matthew 6 specifically tells us not to worry, yet I worry so much. I worry about friends, family, school, relationships, which church to go to... It's insane. I feel like I'm constantly worrying. But why? A girl at a church I visited recently made a good point. She said to think of a time when we were seriously stressed about something & it didn't work out. I couldn't think of anything. I'm constantly worrying & getting stressed over things, & they pretty much always work out eventually. So why do I worry?

I think one main issue for me is that I like knowing what's going to happen & feeling like I have some control over what's going on in my life. But that's a problem. I don't need to know what the future holds, & I definitely don't need control of my life. I need to just give it all up to God, & let Him take care of everything else. Things turn out better that way.

I've been listening to Tenth Avenue North a lot these past few months, & this song is a great description of what God's been telling me. Let it all go. Matthew 10:39 says "Whoever finds their life will lose it, & whoever loses their life for My sake will find it." We need to give every part of our lives up to Him. He'll do a better job with everything than any of us ever could.

LET IT GO BY TENTH AVENUE NORTH

I've been holding on so tight
Look at these knuckles
They've gone white
I'm fighting for who I wanna be
I'm just trying to find security

But You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say you will be everything I need
You said if I lose my life, it's then I'll find my soul
You say let it go.

Well it's hard enough to hear
Harder still, to move beyond this fear
We know there's nothing I can bring,
So tell me what do you want from me?

But You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say You will be everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul
You say let it go, You say let it go

What do I love?
What do I hate?
What will I lose?
What will I gain?
How do I save my soul?
What if I bend?
What if I break?
What will it cost?
What will it take?
For you to save my soul.

You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say You will be everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul

You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say you will be everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul
You say let it go, You say let it go