Alrighty…so it’s well-known that duct tape can fix just about anything. From a broken pencil to a desk leg to Mt. Rushmore, if it’s broken, duct tape is the answer. Well, I’m not duct tape, but for whatever reason, I sometimes think I am. I have noticed that I often want to somehow “fix” my friends problems. I want to believe that people I care about and love should never have to go through anything painful, never experience heartache, never wade through financial difficulties. I hear that something has gone wrong or unexpected, and immediately, at least internally, I start to think “how can I help? What can I do?”
A few weeks ago I found myself mulling things over as I heard that many of my new friends at G42 were patiently waiting for the Lord to fill their support accounts, even with some being to the point of barely making it another month unless the Lord did something miraculous. I thought “I wish I could just write a big ol’ check and fill up their accounts.” And then the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Natasha, it’s not your responsibility. You’re not Me.” Wowza. That struck my heart chords vibrantly. I was awakened to the fact that I sometimes try and carry a burden that I’m not being asked to carry. Do I absolutely love and care for my friends? Of course. Do I absolutely hope that their support will come in? Most definitely. Do I believe the Lord is at work in everything, including His timing for meeting our financial needs? An adamant “yes.” Do I believe that sometimes our most difficult times in life ultimately take us to the preciousness of surrendering at the foot of the Cross? Without a doubt. So who am I to try and fix something that doesn’t need fixing at all; something that has Kingdom-purposes far beyond anything I can envision?
I will pray. I will love. I will serve. I will give. I will do what I can. And I will trust; trust He Who knows every hair on our heads that we are never beyond His grip or gaze. And we are not asked to “make everything ok.” Only He can do that. He does ask us, however, to fix one thing: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:1-2. 🙂
