By Andrea Goebel
God’s Way
“When are you going to wrap my presents?” she asked.
It was the evening of my daughter’s birthday. We had just finished eating supper, and now, I was frantically icing her cake and preparing to wrap her presents. She sat at the table watching me and wondering when we would finally begin her birthday celebration.
The day had turned out quite differently than planned. Sickness had run rampant throughout our entire family for the past week. My daughter herself had felt sick the day before, and my husband, who still felt miserable, was already in bed for the night. Even though I was trying my best to do everything we had planned, we wouldn’t have time to fit it all in before bed.
As I told her that I was going to wrap the presents as soon as I finished icing her cake, I felt God speaking to me: Just let go. Scrap the original plan, and make a new one. Do what you can with the time you have.
As I typically do when God tells me something I don’t want to hear, I resisted initially. I could still do it all, I insisted. It might take a bit longer, but giving our daughter the birthday celebration she wanted was more important than everything else at the moment. I thought it might make up for all the disappointment she had experienced that weekend, as other birthday plans had changed due to our family’s illness.
However, as time ticked away, and I still hadn’t wrapped any presents, I realized I couldn’t do it all. As hard as that was to accept, it was also freeing.
Trying to do it all seems a norm for our culture. I myself can easily get caught up in the idea that the more I do, the better off I will be.
This lie can embed itself in our brains insidiously, and once it does, it’s hard to shake. It’s even taken ahold of my prayer life before. I sometimes think that if I just pray all the right prayers, then my problems will go away and I will feel better. But doing more when we are already depleted does not solve any problems. In fact, sometimes, it makes the ones we already have worse.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
When we feel weary, we can find rest in God. When we let go of the expectations we put upon ourselves and turn to God for guidance, we find an easier way.
Our family’s bout with sickness had left me depleted, but I didn’t have to despair. God made a way.
When I told my daughter that we would have to modify our plans for the evening, she understood. She saw that I was doing my best. And the next day, when my husband felt better, we celebrated together, and our time was sweeter because of that.
If we think all is lost if we don’t get what we want when we want it, we need to readjust our focus. We need to turn to God, and he will make a way for us that is better than any plans we could have made for ourselves.