Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Privilege (and Responsibility) to Spill Your Guts Out to God

An excerpt from a recent blog post at Dennae's blog, Thankful 4 Adoption
I [often] treat going to the Lord with my fears, worries, and anxieties as optional. But it is not optional; I have a responsibility to turn to him. It is both a privilege of adoption and an act of obedience. When I look to God with my fears, I trust that God knows my every need before I even ask. When I cast my anxieties on God, I am exercising an unshakable faith that God cares for me. When I dwell on my problems, worry about the future, and think about all the possible negative scenarios that can come from some bad news I just heard, I deny the responsibility I have as God's daughter and make myself the "god" of my problems. Instead of placing my hope in my loving, sovereign Father, I place my hope in my own abilities. In doing this, I am not demonstrating that God is my loving Father who adopted me through the blood of Jesus.
Understanding this truth empowered me to look to God when I began to feel anxious. Several times this past week, I noticed thoughts and emotions that showed there was anxiousness or fear in my heart. Instead of letting those thoughts fester, I was able to direct my thoughts to the fact that I have a Father that lovingly demands I turn to him for protection and guidance. Just like I do not expect my children to carry their own burdens, how much more does God expect me to give him mine!

2 comments:

Mike Pippenger said...

This is such a big deal for me right now. Is this listed as a spiritual discipline? What would it be called?

thankful4adoption.blogspot.com said...

I think it is part of living a life of repentance & confession. When we don't turn to the Lord, we essentially "erase" him as God and turn to our other gods...money, intimacy, sexuality, TV, food... By God's grace, when we realize we do this, we can repent and praise God for his great grace!