Fun title, yeah? I feel like I really know how to rope ‘em in.
Submitting to the Lord is a conscious choice we have to make every single day. Is it fun? Probably not. Is it easy? Heck no. Is it what’s gotta happen in order for personal growth to happen and for the Lord to move in&through your life? Yeah, most likely.
This is something I’ve had to learn recently. And I still suck sometimes at choosing to banish my fears or doubts and just dive heartfirst into what the Lord has for me. But I’m not a failure because of it! Just because I have failures sometimes doesn’t mean I am a failure.
It’s especially hard to submit to the Lord’s will when there’s fear involved. Fear can control your every mood&decision, if you let it. Our feelings our valid, but giving them all the power and glorifying them does WAY more harm than good! Letting fear change your mind about acting in the name of the Lord is pride. There’s that little voice in the back of our heads that says “okay but can God really control this situation? What if it goes wrong? I need to protect myself in case God’s plan doesn’t go the way I want it to go.” Agreeing with that voice is undermining God’s glory, His power, and His love for us!! How could a Father who loves us as much as He does lead us wrong? Following Him&submitting to Him may feel awkward/intensely scary at times, but I can tell you that it’ll never feel wrong.
Submitting is also hard when you value control. This is something I struggle with on. the. daily. Control is something that only the Lord has, and when we try to cling to it tends to bring stress, anxiety, and worry. Submitting to Him and giving up your desire for control feels counterintuitive. ‘If I’m not going to control everything around me, who will?? God is powerful, yeah, but is He actually here in every little moment? It’s okay for me to take control in some of the littler things, yeah?’ There is so much freedom in releasing the need for control. We don’t NEED to give up that control, but we GET to. We get to rest in the fact that He loves us and cares for each one of us individually. We get to submit knowing that He has the whole world in His hands, as one might say. Thanks God!
It’s incredibly hard & countercultural to submit everything we have, do, and are to the Lord. But it’s what He desires from us, and it brings freedom beyond compare.
BONUS PICS
View off of our second floor balcony.
Khmer alphabet.
First small childrens’ English class of Cambodia for us. Dan and I went over numbers & the alphabet with our small crazy friends here. Then we played with toys, of course.
On the tuk tuk ride home from ministry.
Practicing writing my name in Khmer!
