Naked Man Moleskin

I know today we’re thinking about Ryleigh and her family. I wrote this before I heard the news, and while this isn’t meant to be about me, I hope my struggles help illuminate God’s presence in all our struggles, even Ryleigh’s family.

Lately I’ve been battling stress and anxiety with work. Lot of pressure, little time, and it felt it was all to make other people lots of money. It feels so empty, so fruitless, and I struggled with the point of continuing. I began to question if I should be looking somewhere else. Is this “right” for me?

Then in my devotion, in the midst of my troubles, the first lines said simply this:

Relax my child. I’m in control.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that don’t seem to align with what we “want”. But when we pause, and remember that it’s what God wants that matters, and that he has a plan to prosper us and not harm us, plans to give us hope and a future – we realize we don’t have to control our situations. We need to simply be in self-control in the situation and let God do what he’s going to do. The minute we can recognize we don’t have control is the minute we realize we don’t need it.

So for me, the stress and anxiety melts. It doesn’t all go away, but the clarity of the situation is so much better. I’m reminded that God opens doors for us, and we step through them. And at some point he’ll close them and we’ll step through another. And that God is simply asking us right now to relax. He’s got this.We can relax. He’s in control.