Letting Go

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (New American Standard Bible)

Yesterday was a day of decision, death, and direction for me. The path I walked was watered with tears and unrest. Peace eluded me, joy escaped me, and brokenness encircled me. I was having a ‘wrestling match’ with God and He saw to it that it did not end until I opened my closed fists to Him in yieldedness and trust. What could have taken mere minutes dragged on for the day. Hours of holding on to ideas, plans, and dreams that were not mine to hold on to, saw the setting of the sun and the introduction of the evening hours. Then His Spirit began to bring verses to mind, like the one that sits atop this devotional. Reminders that His ways and thoughts are higher than my own.

What followed was a willingness to place in His hands all that I was hoping He would do in and through my life. I let go of my own dreams and yielded to the possibility that His plans and desires for me were better. He took every one of my ideas and poignantly put them to death. Will He resurrect any of them? I don’t know. But I do know He will now bring to life what He has in mind for me and my hopelessness has given way to anticipation. For what I have begun to see is that He holds the key to all the doors that are intended for me to walk through and in His time He will turn the key with delight in His eyes and joy in His voice!

Has anything outward changed for me? Not really. But internally there is peace and a quieted spirit that has been refreshed. There is no longer the need to understand and figure out what God is doing and what He will have me do. Just as the manna was given to His people on a daily basis, so His plans and guidance will be dispensed to me on a moment by moment basis. It is all about listening to His voice, trusting His heart, sensing His hand, and following His lead down the path of His choosing. Many of my Bible ancestors are coming to mind and I contend that God’s plan for their life was better than anything they could have ever dreamed up on their own. That’s the plan I want as well. I don’t have to know what it is…..I just have to know Him!

Father, letting go is only painful until I finally do it. Now that my hands are empty, they are free to take hold of Your hand and the hem of Your garment. Amen.