Joy. Got any?<\/p>\n
The Lord and I were having a conversation about the future. He noticed I felt a bit disheartened. (He\u2019s good at that\u2014knowing the thoughts of my heart.)<\/p>\n
A while back, I\u2019d asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d He\u2019d laid out an action plan, specific steps that would lead to a desired place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d I told him. \u201cI\u2019ve been obedient, but nothing\u2019s happening as I expected. I\u2019m tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
As I reviewed the steps again to see if I\u2019d overlooked anything, he said, \u201cI didn\u2019t say when<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo\u2026waiting is all I do today. But what\u2019s next?\u201d<\/p>\n I paused, listening for clear instructions. His answer surprised me. \u201cKeep doing what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay. That simplifies it. I\u2019ll keep doing what you\u2019ve clearly said and trust you to handle the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t add this but he knew what I wanted to say\u2014that my joy had been slowly seeping like air through a pinhole, leaving a balloon deflated. Weariness and discouragement do that.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t need more energy. I just needed a smidgen of faith\u2014about the size of a mustard seed.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s a direct correlation between my faith and my joy. I never have one without the other. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n There\u2019s a direct correlation between my faith and my joy. I never have one without the other. So I stirred up a little faith to ignite my joy and plodded along, doing what I\u2019d been doing. It wasn\u2019t long until those stalkers caught up with me again\u2014weariness and discouragement.<\/p>\n \u201cLord, I\u2019m done!\u201d I told him. I wasn\u2019t quitting\u2026just letting him know if nothing else comes, I\u2019ll continue living in the moment, forsaking worry about the future, feeling content and grateful for my wonderfully blessed life today.<\/p>\n I think he accepted that as a fresh surrender. Things began happening that only he could have arranged, causing an explosion of my joy and faith\u2014and praise. The stalkers fled in a cloud of dust.<\/p>\n To quit trying to arrange circumstances\u2026to relinquish control.<\/p>\nThe Lord had been waiting for me to give up. To quit trying to arrange circumstances\u2026to relinquish control. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n Andrew Murray writes in Absolute Surrender<\/em>, \u201cThe condition for obtaining God\u2019s full blessing is absolute surrender to Him\u2026Give yourselves up absolutely to the will of God\u2026what can God do to fill a vessel absolutely surrendered to Him?…God has prepared unheard-of-things, blessings much more wonderful than you can imagine, more mighty than you can conceive.\u201d<\/p>\n I remember the day I surrendered wholly, acknowledging Christ as Lord of my life. A daily surrender renews my allegiance and sets my focus on him and his plan.<\/p>\n Familiar words come to mind. \u201cThy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path\u201d (Psalm 119:105).<\/p>\n Lord, my life is yours. Do with it as you please. I\u2019m done. Done relying on myself to figure out the next step. The lamp of your Word provides enough light for my next step. I don\u2019t need to know where the path leads. I only need to go forward, trusting you to fulfill your purpose in me. When? In your time.<\/em><\/p>\n Joy. Got plenty!<\/p>\n \u00a9 Dianne Barker 2018<\/p>\n Many of us struggle with yielding control, like a child insisting, “I can do it myself!” Would you share your thoughts in the comment box? And please share this with your friend-list!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joy. Got any? The Lord and I were having a conversation about the future. He noticed I felt a bit disheartened. (He\u2019s good at that\u2014knowing the thoughts of my heart.) A while back, I\u2019d asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d He\u2019d laid out an action plan, specific steps that would lead to a desired place. \u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[154,9,40,153,77,15,155,28],"class_list":["post-702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-andrew-murray","tag-dianne-barker","tag-discouragement","tag-faith-confront-stalkers-weariness","tag-joy","tag-praise","tag-relinquish-control","tag-surrender"],"yoast_head":"\nKeeping my \u201cjoy\u201d balloon floating required more energy that I felt like investing.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
It seems the Lord had been waiting for me to give up.<\/strong><\/h3>\n