Let it Go

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “Let go and let God.” It really couldn’t be more true. There have been three key times in my life when I’ve let it go and experienced God’s full and overwhelming blessings. The first hapened when my husband and I were in the early stages of dating. He was saved, but I was not. He would try to talk with me about God, but I just wasn’t getting it. I felt like I didn’t really need Him. Why did I need someone telling me how to be good when I thought I was already doing the right things? My husband (boyfriend at the time) actually broke up with me over this. I was so devastated and felt lost. When we talked the next day and he told me that I needed God in my life, I told him that I needed his help. At that moment, he knew that God had given him back our relationship. He had let “us” go and God gave “us” right back. What if my husband hadn’t let go? What if he had so desperately tried to hold on and force scripture at me that I began to resent him? We might have been at odds so often that our relationship could have been severely strained. Instead, my husband let go of his own agend in order to let God work out His agenda. And because of that our relationship with each other and with God is very strong. I believe it is so much stronger because we “let go.”

The second instance occurred after we had been married for a couple years and decided that we were ready to have children. Notice that I said WE. God wasn’t even consulted. We just figured that it’s a natural thing, so it would probably happen soon enough and then we would thank God. When it didn’t happen right away, instead of going to God, we went straight to the doctors. They had medicine. I went on several different medications that did nothing but make me sick. I also went through tests that basically told us nothing. And the doctor would always send us home with specific “instructions.” This was not at all what we thought having children was going to be like. Finally, the doctor gave us yet another prescription and sent us along with our “homework.” When we got home, instead of filling the prescription right away, my husband took the day to pray. He came home with what God had spoken to him – TRUST ME. After a few days, we ripped up the prescription and threw it away. We were finally letting go of our own agenda so that God could work out His. When we did receive our promise, we were actually surprised and it was so much sweeter than if we had forced it upon ourselves. And since our first baby, we have continued to let God work out His agenda concerning our family and because of that, we currently have SIX beautiful children.

The third occasion was very recently when we bought a house. We have more than outgrown our current house and knew it was time we get serious about searching for that perfect bigger home. We looked at a house here and there, but nothing seemed to come close to what we were hoping for. Then we saw it. The size was right, the rooms were right, the yard was right. But after looking at it, we realized it needed some work, so we made an offer that was quite a bit less than what they were asking. They countered, but didn’t come down much from the original asking price. So after a week, we went in again and raised our offer. Again, they came down, but not much. The negotiating process when on for weeks and I was so nervous that someone else was going to come in snatch it away from us. Most of the nitty-gritty negotiating happened while my husband and I were on our anniversary vacation. That was a huge blessing to be able to focus on that without having all the kids around and daily “stuff” that needed to get done. So finally it came down to a matter of a few thousand dollars. The sellers had offered their lowest asking price and we had offered our highest price. It was a matter of only $5,000. You are probably thinking, why not just go ahead and meet them where they are at? What’s a few thousand compared to the THOUSANDS you are spending on the house? But we had walked closely with God throughout the whole process and we knew that He was telling us to stop. And let it go. So we did. I think our realtor was ready to continue showing us houses, lol, but we knew that if this was the right one, He would give it back to us. And if it wasn’t, it was because He had something better for us. We were at peace with the decision. Within a couple hours, God had given us the house. The sellers came down to meet us where we were.

Because of these situtaions, I am CONVINCED that if we continue to hold on to our own agendas, forcing things to happen when WE want them to happend, God can not pour out your FULL blessing upon you. Will you still be blessed? Of course, but you don’t know what you may have missed out on. Would my husband and I still have gotten married? Maybe. But I don’t think our relationship would be as strong. Would we still have had children? Probably. But maybe just one or two. Would we still have gotten the house? We could have certainly raised our offer. But we may have lost some bargaining leverage during the inspection and closing process. And I’m sure there are so many more blessings this house and neighborhood have for us that we have yet to discover. And I can’t wait.