What Kept Me from Conquering My To Do List

On our last trip to the beach, I saw a little girl sitting on the edge of the water, diligently building a sandcastle.  She would make excellent progress until a wave crept up on her and washed it all away. 

With fierce determination, she kept building and re-building only to have a wave topple it over once again.  I could see the frustration and anger building up in her eyes, and, at that moment, I saw so much of myself in her.

A few minutes later, her father grabbed her by the hand and said, “Let’s build a sandcastle over here,” as he led her away from the water’s edge. 

He sat behind her helping her when she needed assistance, and they enjoyed the process of building together.  Together they built a huge sandcastle that she didn’t know was possible.

I’ve always been a fan of systems and daily routines. For example, I have a list of tasks for my morning routine that I try to complete each day. But I’ve noticed that when things get tough or I become overwhelmed, I get out a blank sheet of paper and rebuild a brand-new daily schedule. 

After doing this 4 or 5 times, I finally realized that maybe the problem wasn’t my schedule but a misconception about the role I play in my own life.

The problem was never my plan.  The problem was that a workable plan doesn’t exist without leaving margin to rely on God for help.

So often, when I’m confronted with a problem, I self-analyze and try to figure out how to change myself for the better.  I have found out the hard way that this is a frustrating and exasperating path because I don’t have enough control over my life to DIY my own problems.

God’s ways are so much different than ours and He calls us to be more like Him but not without His help.  We are designed to rely on Him for our every need because He knows what we need more than we do AND He knows the best way to provide for His children. 

While God gives us dreams and setting goals is apart of achieving those dreams, He doesn’t expect us to achieve them without relying on Him for help.

When we find our plans not measuring up, our most effective strategy for change is to surrender the problem over to God. 

So often, I find myself trying to fix things in my life that only God can fix.  When I try to take His matters into my own hands, I overanalyze and can’t enjoy the peace of surrendering the problems that rightfully belong in His hands anyway.

Planning and setting goals is wise.  But when I plan so much that I feel the need to have total control, I forget to enjoy the process and let him be in charge of the results.  When my mind is fixated on problems that aren’t mine to solve, I can’t enjoy God’s peace. 

“Submit to God and be at peace with him;  in this way, prosperity will come to you.” Job 22:21

As Ruth Chou writes, “When we try to control and manipulate the circumstances of our lives, we are really saying: I can avoid having to trust God if I can simply trust myself.  Failures and shortcomings remind us that we are not saviors of our own lives.  They keep us tethered to the humbling reality that in order to receive the grace of God, we must begin by believing we are in desperate need of it.”

At the center of our being, we were created to need God, not just in times of trial but in everything that our lives hold.  When I try to be independent in the good times but rely on Him in the hard times, I’m treating my faith in God as an emergency bunker when it really should be my ‘home sweet home.’

My friend, you are not supposed to have this all figured out.  There will be hard times, and the fall of man ensures us of that.  But in the midst of trying to ward off the brokenness in this world, we forget that God offers us an impenetrable fortress to seek refuge from it.

Fortunately, God knows better to allow us to do the heavy lifting when it comes to the direction of our lives.  He knows that if we had ANY real control over our lives, we would irrevocably screw them up.

When we seek his shelter in the storm, we find our rightful place and can finally thrive because we were never meant to do it alone.  We were designed to lean into Him.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Highest will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” – Psalm 91:1-2

And you know what happens over time?  Surrendering to Him becomes a habit.  And we build true confidence not because it is in ourselves but in the plans of our Good God.

But the first step in overcoming this problem is to ask for God’s help.   If I try to do things on my own, I’m sure to fall on my face.  But when I surrender my problem to God, not only will I have a solution, but it will be the best option and timing possible.

As His children, God wants us to lay our problems before Him, because they were never ours to solve in the first place.

True productivity results from surrenduring your problems to the Lord and seeking His direction.

No matter what you are facing, know that no problem is too big for the Lord. He wants you to hand it over to Him instead of going the DIY route.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

For understanding how to hand your problems over to Him, check out this post: How To Give Your Burdens to God (Why You Struggle to Rest)

Blessings,

Karin

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