Tuesday’s Trench Lesson

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Can You Let Yourself Be Held?

Hello Friends! I hope you are having a terrific Tuesday! I am glad you are back with me today, because I have really been thinking about a topic lately that I would like to share with you. I think this is a day we can really take a look at the trenches, and know if we can jump in there and start doing the work. Sometimes when I think about making a better me, I feel overwhelmed, and think there is not a strong enough shovel to get rid of all my junk. Sometimes I feel like my roots are covered in cement, and I need to rent equipment to break it up before I can even see my dirt!

Our dear, sweet, loving Father in Heaven sent the Holy Spirit down to me this week to help strengthen me. I realize now, that no matter how hard or even downright impossible it seems to improve myself, that it is possible. Yes, it will most likely be painful, but when all is said and done, how free will I feel? I have been thinking of all my friends that I would love to have the courage to get in their trench. Heck, I have some friends that I have been praying that they will even see that they have junk they need to uproot, own, and then throw away!

How can I encourage people to want to be a “better them” when I am such a hot mess? I was trying to discover what the one piece of advice would be to give someone that wants to live a more free happy life. How is it I can prove to you that you can make it through the process of overcoming old wounds and worries? How can you turn your weaknesses into strengths when it is terrifying to think of your life being different?

The answers came to me by song, as it so often does. I so love that I get answers this way, especially from songs that I have heard numerous times.  I hear it just a little bit differently when I am praying for an answer, and poof, there it is. (or “boosh,” there it is, as my son would say)

So I bet you are asking yourself what this magical song is right about now, aren't you! Well, let me tell you. It is a song by Casting Crowns called Just Be Held. On this day where I was praying for my friends, and wanting to be strong and a good example for them, this song plays. The song opens with these words: “Hold it all together, everybody needs you strong.” Okay, this song is talking to me now. I am trying to be strong!

Then the next line is this: “But life hits you out of nowhere and barely leaves you holding on.” Yep, this song is definitely speaking to me. Just about the time I try to be my strongest, I get hit the hardest. Yes, I believe this is by design. I keep telling myself to give up that control. I have been holding on so tight to it for so long, this is still a constant battle. I am sure we will be talking about this for months to come. I know I am making progress though! That is important to me. I am a better me today than I was yesterday.

So, the song continues on to say that when you are tired of fighting there is freedom in letting it go, releasing your tight grip on that control. They sing, “Lay it down and let it go.” And then the beautiful chorus came, telling me, you, that we are not alone, even when we feel like we can't get answers to our prayers in the time that we want them. This line in the middle of the chorus is the one that really just touched my heart, and made me just say WOW: “Your world is not falling apart; it's falling into place.”

When I get in my solitary space and really break into a pity party, I let myself feel like my world is just falling to pieces, and I will never be able to pick them up and put them back together again. In reality, what seems like chaos to us is just a small part of such a big and beautiful plan, that we do not have the perspective to see! But, oh, how I need to be reminded of this on a fairly constant basis! Yes!

 In the song, they sing about where our eyes are focused. If we focus on the storm, and not on the Lord, we will wonder if we are alone, if we are loved, if we will ever find those answers. If we try, with our heart, to keep our eyes toward Heaven, and, as the song title says, “just be held,” we will know He is with us; He loves us, and He will send answers in His time, not ours. So my advice to those out there wanting to have the courage to get into their trench, there it is. Just be held. Let Him hold you, carry you, and get you through your rough times of facing your past, and your undesirable present. Don't just let go of control; accept His hand to scoop you up and hold you tight. Can you let yourself be held?

Until next week, my friends, I love you.

Lea