Out of control

A friend posted this Blog and it inspired me to reply. Her blog is immediately below… my reply is after that.
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It’s like…

I’m watching a movie and waiting to see what happens next, like I’m on the outside looking in, having no control over what’s happening, like I’m not really involved in what’s happening.

Sometimes it’s like I’m on a roller coaster that won’t stop. Going through all the twists and turns and up and down the hills and sometimes being completely turned upside down. It just keeps going and going and never stops and I can never get off.
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When I was a child I used to think I was somehow playing my part in a movie, but I just didn’t know it. Like I was speaking a part instead of being “me”. Guess I thought of the “Truman Show” before the producer!

But to me, that feeling of being out of control proves there must be a God to control it all. And I’m thankful, and you should be too, that I’M not the one in control!

No, it’s not a great feeling to think you are on the outside watching the events of life unfold around you, but those are usually temporary feelings. Fleeting thoughts in a moment. Hopefully they don’t last for days on end, because that could lead to some serious depression.

I don’t know how my viewpoint changed. There were times when I thought people would think I was nuts for saying I felt I was somehow speaking a script that I’d never read. A sense of déjà vu I couldn’t explain sometimes gripped me. Slowly God revealed to me how much I enjoy being in control. These moments of “Wow, I think I’m not the one doing this.” were to shake me into loosening my iron grip on my life and letting God take over.

Don’t get me wrong. Leaving God in control is not an excuse to ignore my responsibility over my actions and say, “I can’t make any decisions myself!” Or to be complacent and wait for that beam of light to show me what I should do next. (But wouldn’t that simplify things? Hmmm… I’d probably argue with God over that too… Blind faith does have its merits!)

There is much evidence of faith, prayer, patient waiting and planning during ‘out of control’ times in the Bible. Once such instance is within the story of Moses. Actually, Moses himself had little to do with making the plans or the implementation of the plan. He was just a baby. I’m really talking about his mother, Jochebed. She didn’t know how she was going to protect her precious child, Moses from death. She was able to hide him for three months, but during that time, she had to plan. Of course she had strong faith. Without it I doubt she’d be able to entrust her precious baby to a ‘water-proof’ basket she wove, put it in the Nile River and ask Miriam to risk her life to watch it. I’m sure in those three months of hiding the baby, Jochebed prayed, planned and petitioned God to help her understand that which was out of her control. To help her pass on to Him control of not only her life, but the lives of her children. Any modern-day mother can relate to that struggle. Jochebed trusted that God could and would protect them. Not only did God protect them, but He provided a way for her to continue to raise her son and get paid for it by the very leaders who wanted the baby killed. ONLY God can do that!

Trusting that God is ALWAYS in control can be difficult. Why? Because so many times WE aren’t in control and trying to comprehend how ’someone’ else can be in total control seems out of the realm of possibilities. Besides, we love to think “I did that!”. Americans especially, in my opinion, are control freaks. (My mid-Western friends tell me us East Coast people are the worst!)

The lyrics to “Who” by the Newsboys ring so true for me, “I’m not following a God I can lead around, I can’t tame this deity, That’s why Jesus is the final answer to Who I want my God to be!, He’s Who (I want my God to be…)”

People will say they don’t want a God who tells them what to do and tells them they are doing something wrong. Yet do you really want to follow ’someone’ who doesn’t know the answers? Aren’t those bosses the worst kind? The ones who have the power yet don’t know what they are doing and so don’t know how to tell you how to get things done?

For now I continue to pray that God takes control of my life. I’ve given Him the big things, but daily have to bring the little things to lay at His feet. What control do you need to give over to God? Will you ask Him this week to reveal it to you? And will you decide tonight to begin the transfer of control over to God?