Take your hands off it.

Is it me, or does there seem to be an increase in need around us? It feels like everytime I begin my prayer time, I come to a realization of the seriousness of the needs on my list. For every need there are human beings involved.

Those requests just seem to way heavy on my heart all day long. I have reminders and names placed in different places all over the house to remind me to spot pray for particular people during the day and I still feel an urgency in several situations.

Okay, so in a few of those situations urgency isn't the proper word...fear is more like it.

Suffocating, "what in the world are we going to do" type of fear.

God showed me yesterday that in two particular situations I have made the fear bigger than it needed to be.

I try to clean up the fear and worry by saying "God has put this on my heart right now..." when in actuality, I'm not really giving it to God and leaving it with Him. Probably part of my control issue!? :)

Sometimes I think He must be shake His head at me. "Take your hands off of this!"

This all came to a point yesterday afternoon when one particular thing was just consuming my every thought. I spent some time in prayer and reading scripture but, that fear was still trying to push the Truth from my mind.

I continued to hear "take your hands off of it".

I would love to tell you I did, but I can't. I finished up some chores and headed out the door for Bible study and rehearsal with Freedom's Call.

During our study time, D. used the phrase "take your hands off" several times. Can I just tell you how that ministered to me? The topic of study was completely different than what I was personally going through, but the principle of letting go and taking your hands off was the same.

By keeping my hands so tightly clenched around this thing, I'm putting a barrier between me and God. The longer I try to control and hang on to it, the bigger it becomes. The bigger it becomes, the more it consumes and spills over into other areas of my life, keeping me from living in freedom and joy that God intends for me to live in.

This morning as I did my Bible study this question was asked:

"Have you the slightest reliance on anything other than God?"

Ummmm..yes I do, myself. The study went on to challenge me to take my little hands off of it.

Can I tell you how freeing it was to physically open my hands and say "here God.."

I have absolutely no idea how He is going to provide this need and work this out and for the first time, I am completely okay with that.

I've taken my hands off it.