Better Than Imagined

The kids I watch were fighting over this orange ball. Ultimately, one of them got it, and the other didnt. He was sad he didn't get it. And as he was crying over the fact that he didn't get the ball... a bigger, arguably better orange ball fell off the table right in front of him. Instantly, I thought, look at that... he's crying over what was taken from him. But now he has something bigger and better than he could've imagined. He didn't even know it was there. Sound familiar? How often do we hold on so tightly to what we have and we wrestle God to keep it? And yet, all of the time, His way is better. Even the things He takes away are a blessing. We're such an entitled people who expect everything to be given to us and what is given to us, we expect to hold onto for eternity. I encourage you today... don't forget that everything you have. From the very breath in your lungs to every freckle that graces your body. From your house to your job to your family. Everything we have. Everyone we have is a complete gift. Secondly, as we soak in the gifts of His grace, let us remember how much better His way and His gifts are. We may not be able to see the greater outcome, but faith is stepping into the unknown. Not because we trust the outcome, but we trust the One who ordains it. I remember being in seasons where I just needed someone to tell me... "just let go." And I think someone needs that reminder right now. Stop striving. Stop trying to do it in your own strength. Lean into Him. Let go of control. Let go of the need to know every little detail. Just take one step at a time and walk in complete faith and trust in Him. Surrender it all to Him. It's all His anyways and He has a plan greater than you can imagine. He invites you into peace, not striving. Surrender, not control. We like to think we know all amd know best. The reality is, in the grand scheme of things, we know nothing. And our best pales in comparison to what He has in store for us. If we just loosened our grip on things needing to go our way, we could step peacefully into all He has. Instead of having a heart posture of "this is the way we're going," we could invite the Lord into it and humbly ask, "Lord, which way are we going?" My family and I play a good amount of card games and while I enjoy them (and enjoy winning even more), it's actually a real struggle for me to win. And that's largely because of my mindset when I'm playing. When I play card games that require strategies and quick thinking changes, I struggle because my mind is set on one plan, one idea. Once I have a plan on how I'm going to play my cards, it's hard for me to deviate from that plan. To rethink my hand and see how the cards could be used in different ways just proves to be a difficulty for me. I think we can all approach life the same way sometimes. We get so drilled in our minds how we'd like things to go that when it looks different than how we desired, we lose our hope, peace, and at times trust in Him. I love Proverbs 16:9 how it says we can plan our steps, but the Lord establishes them. We can make plans, but it is the Lord who will plant our feet where they're supposed to land. Thankfully, even when our life plan goes differently than expected, we can lean into Him. Because God has ordained every one of our days and knows His plan. We get so fixated on our plans, we don't realize all the other ways our life could be used or our path could go. He sees every path from a short term and long term view and chooses the best for you. We are focused on the momentary satisfactions of our plans, He is focused on the eternal. Let us be reminded to fix our eyes on Him, in the giving and taking, in the rooms and hallways, in every moment. And trust what He has in store is far better than you could have ever imagined.