ACCEPTANCE

God grant me the serenity to accept the things

I cannot change, courage to change the things

I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

(Reinhold Niebuhr)

A conversation with a friend last night led to a couple more timely reminders, such as Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer, and the well-known passage on acceptance in AA's Big Book that I have added to the end of this post.

The wording is a little different than the reminders I wrote about in my previous post, but the message is the same. God is in control, and I need to trust Him instead of trying to do things my way. And I am trying, really I am, to let go and abandon myself to what He is doing in my life instead of trying to get Him to bless my attempts to make things happen the way I think they should.

My perspective is so limited. Only He sees the whole picture and knows the end from the beginning, which puts Him in a far better position than I am to know what really is best.

                Acceptance is the answer to ALL of my 

                problems today. When I am disturbed,

                it is because I find some person, place,

                thing, or situation--some fact of  my life--

                unacceptable to me, and I can find no

                serenity until I accept that person, place,

                thing, or situation as being exactly the

                way it is supposed to be at this moment.

                Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in

                God's world by mistake.

                (The Big Book, p. 417)

TIMELY REMINDERS

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though

I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in

darkness, the LORD will be my light.

(Micah 7:8, NIV)

Just the other day I was shedding tears while sharing the frustration I was feeling over an ongoing financial trial with a friend and asking her why God was not providing a way out of it as He had always been faithful to do in the past.

She had no answers, but the next day and the day after, some timely reminders (and answers to my question) popped out at me from the pages of a couple of devotionals I had been reading during my early morning quiet time with the Lord.

I'm jotting them down here to help etch them a little more firmly in my mind, but also in hopes they will encourage someone else as well who might be feeling as dejected as I had been the day of my friend's visit.

1.   Whatever you allow to captivate your mind will rule your life. Will it be the truths in God's Word, or the lies of Satan?

2.   Resist the devil and refuse to surrender to the circumstantial pressure he brings your way.

3.   God's ability is not limited by your inability.

4.   Though trials are not pleasant, and we may not be able to understand the why, we can trust that God is in control and thank Him for the good things we anticipate He will bring about, in His perfect time, through this unpleasant bit of life.

5.   Instead of trying to get God to do this or that, try to adjust to what He is already doing, and give yourself fully to the adventure of each day.

6.   Rather than try to maintain control over your life, abandon yourself to God's will, knowing that Jesus is walking right beside you.

7.   Jesus is your Shepherd, and He is taking care of you, so you don't have to be afraid of anything.

And last, but not least, some words of wisdom from Dennis J. DeHaan:

        Once we stop our own devising,

        Quit the schemes of our own choosing,

        Cease from all our fruitless striving,

        God steps in with grace and power!

LEARNING TO LET GO

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be

constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12, ESV)

That was a very timely verse in a very timely post I recently read on my blog friend Lucinalva's blog. She was writing about how this world is a very stressful place, and how essential it is to learn (from the example set by Jesus) how to maintain balance and respond correctly in the face of challenges.

 Patience is definitely not my forté--especially when things are not going my way--and in the days prior to reading Lucinalva's post, my little world had been very stressful indeed. Technical issues that took hours to resolve, a leak from a busted hot water heater in the utility room, being lied to by someone who thought they had put one over on me, being told I was wrong when I was right by an obstinate handyman who I am dependent on to get things fixed in my apartment, and trying to get past robots who answer the phone and make it just about impossible to get through to a live person. The way I screamed at the robot in my frustration was definitely not what Jesus would do.

I was feeling really traumatized by my lack of control over the many things not going my way, not being able to get people (or robots) do what I wanted them to, and making a lot of assumptions that more often than not turn out to be wrong. 

There is a two-word remedy, which I am trying to remember to apply--LET GO! 

When I focus on the present, remind myself that God is in control and working things out according to His perfect plan, and trust the outcome to Him, He fills my heart with His peace that surpasses understanding even if things don't look as though they are heading the way I think they should. 

Peace feels so much better than being right or having my own way, but I can't have it unless I let go.