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Stronger by Angela Thomas – Week 4


God is Stronger than My Overwhelming Life

 I pray that you’re convinced of this fact!  I’m also praying that you’re living like you believe this.  If I’m completely honest with myself, I struggle with this one sometimes.  That’s why I can get stressed over my job, my family, my schedule, etc. and actually make myself sick with concern – I won’t say “worry” because it’s a sin to worry.  But, I suppose if we’re going to call a spade a “spade”, I should admit that I have control issues – when I’m not in control, I worry.

My schedule is overwhelming.  It’s funny that I’m saying this after two things that I’ve been doing regularly have ended.  I should be able to do all things through Christ Who gives me strength.  Right?  Then why is it so hard?  Maybe because I’m not asking if it’s His will I’m committing to?  Maybe because I’m doing these things in my own strength, not His.  Ouch!  Can you tell when you’re doing things through God’s strength or your own?  I’d love to hear your comments on this.  I think I see God work best when I feel less prepared.  For example, when I’m well prepared to teach Sunday school out of the overflow of what He’s taught me as I study the lesson material, I tend to “muscle” the conversation in the direction I’ve been led.  Whereas when I haven’t had much time to prepare the lesson, so I just do the essentials of the material, I find that the Holy Spirit leads the discussion in surprising directions.  He teaches me in the class along with everyone else.  What about you?

What about distractions?  They can be overwhelming.  Especially when you know you should be spending your time doing one thing, but get stuck doing something else.  Are we having a problem prioritizing?  I think so.  And unrealistic expectations?  I place those firmly on myself – and others.  It makes me a perfectionist – which is impossible to achieve.  It also makes me unforgiving!  Ouch!  When others place them on me, it also makes me defensive.  And when I get hurt, I hurt others.

We can’t balance our own lives.  It’s like chaos theory mathematics.  Do you remember the lesson from “Jurassic Park”?  Dr. Rock Star conducts an experiment on Dr. Ellie’s hand with a drop of water, talking about variations in the hand and imperfections in the skin making a drop of water take a different path down the arm than a water droplet placed in the exact same spot a moment before.  But it’s Dr. Ellie who teaches the true nature of chaos theory:  control is an illusion!  We control NOTHING!  Ouch!  Ouch!  God is in control!  Hallelujah!  This truly is a comfort.  So why do I keep trying to snag the reins from my Savior?  Do you?

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