I'm commonly asked what the most important thing that I learned in Greece was. That's an extremely hard question for me to answer because I learned SO STINKIN MUCH! I went into the trip knowing God was going to rock my world and change me, but I had no idea what the extent of that would be.
One very common theme during my trip, though, would have to be control! Ahhh. Almost every single thing that God showed me this summer had some kind of underlying control issue within it.
What I learned about control in Greece:
1. I idolize relationships. I realized this in multiple relationships and multiple ways. In one way, I care too much about how certain people will react to things or I let the things they say get to me. In another way, I get too consumed with the relationships and rely on myself to make them go a certain way.
Either way, I'm putting the relationships above God, and at some points I'm trying to be God myself. That's alarming. I can't control how people react to me. I can't control how people feel about me. I can't control/change peoples' hearts or minds. I CAN'T CONTROL PEOPLE.
2. I want my life to go the way I want it to go. I remember when I was really sick, I felt so incredibly hopeless. I just kept thinking, "There's nothing I can do right now." That was really, really hard for me. I didn't like that I couldn't become healthy on my own. I didn't like that I wasn't able to eat most foods (at some points no food at all). Like I said in a previous post, I had some really great God time during that week of hell, because I was learning that I had to truly trust in Him and give Him control over everything... including my sickness.
3. Life is so much better when I give it over to God. After becoming a Christian I always knew I wanted the passionate, spontaneous, surrendering relationship with God but up until Greece I had taken most of the control back into my own hands (obviously not completely because I definitely didn't get to Greece on my own). While I was in Greece I was quickly reminded how much more satisfying life is when I give it over to the Lord. Lots of things have changed/are changing in my life right now, but by walking with the Lord and surrendering to Him every single day I have no reason to fear... for He is with me.
One very common theme during my trip, though, would have to be control! Ahhh. Almost every single thing that God showed me this summer had some kind of underlying control issue within it.
What I learned about control in Greece:
1. I idolize relationships. I realized this in multiple relationships and multiple ways. In one way, I care too much about how certain people will react to things or I let the things they say get to me. In another way, I get too consumed with the relationships and rely on myself to make them go a certain way.
Either way, I'm putting the relationships above God, and at some points I'm trying to be God myself. That's alarming. I can't control how people react to me. I can't control how people feel about me. I can't control/change peoples' hearts or minds. I CAN'T CONTROL PEOPLE.
2. I want my life to go the way I want it to go. I remember when I was really sick, I felt so incredibly hopeless. I just kept thinking, "There's nothing I can do right now." That was really, really hard for me. I didn't like that I couldn't become healthy on my own. I didn't like that I wasn't able to eat most foods (at some points no food at all). Like I said in a previous post, I had some really great God time during that week of hell, because I was learning that I had to truly trust in Him and give Him control over everything... including my sickness.
3. Life is so much better when I give it over to God. After becoming a Christian I always knew I wanted the passionate, spontaneous, surrendering relationship with God but up until Greece I had taken most of the control back into my own hands (obviously not completely because I definitely didn't get to Greece on my own). While I was in Greece I was quickly reminded how much more satisfying life is when I give it over to the Lord. Lots of things have changed/are changing in my life right now, but by walking with the Lord and surrendering to Him every single day I have no reason to fear... for He is with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment