Giving Up Control

My awesome twin over at http://musingslifeliving.blogspot.com/ said something that really hit me hard today; I think everyone needs to read it. She said:

"I realized how close I am every day to losing my servant's heart. I never, ever want to NOT want to serve people. Does that make sense? I want to serve people gladly, with joy, always. Always.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)"

During the past few months, I've been feeling God nudging me to help people - I get this overwhelming feeling that I should be doing something. I just feel like I need to help people. But then, something comes up, I forget about that prompting, and I lose myself in homework or walk lists or books, and the feeling goes away for a while.

I'm saying this publicly so I can't back out on it: I will start helping people wherever I can.  I have to start trusting God to lead me where He needs me to work in people's lives, and I hope to high heaven I can do Him justice while I'm serving. I want to shine a light into people's lives, and show them that whatever is happening in their lives right now aren't the be all and end all - God is. I want to minister to people in my own little sphere of influence, and I want to serve people whenever I possibly can. Now I just need to give up my death grip on controlling my own life and let God lead me to the people He wants me to serve.

Do Not Be Terrified...

Considering I'm so far away and can't always get in touch with everyone I want to so I can tell them what's going on, I thought I'd give blogging another shot.

My life is kind of the definition of Joshua 1:9 right now, hence the blog name: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

My life is changing left and right, and I'm not quite sure what to do with it - as those of you who know me may have seen, I'm not a fan of change. So I've been trying to live by Joshua's words, failing, and trying again. One of these days, the message will stick!

Anywho, my life so far this summer:

I was moved to Crookston for work - working on Representative Deb Kiel's reelection campaign. It's been going better than I expected it to, and I was finally getting comfortable and used to living in Crookston when...they moved me again. Now I'm in Moorhead working on a primary campaign (my candidate has to win or we'll probably lose the seat...but don't worry, no pressure! Ha.) and living in a former House staffer's basement living room (good thing: the family is super nice and they have a dog and a cat! bad thing: EVERYTHING changed, I'm living out of a travel bag, and I have 2 weeks to try and win a primary). Needless to say, I've been a liiiiiittle frazzled. I've definitely not been trusting God like I should - I like to be in control of my life, and so far this summer I've had very little control over anything. God knows I like control and stability, maybe a little too much, and so I've moved twice this summer. Not my idea of a good time, but hey, it's God's plan that matters, right? Also, I'm working on my masters during all this, and things get very complicated when I'm trying to write a campaign plan or fundraising plan while trying to finish a final project AND do all my reading AND door knock like there's no tomorrow.

So that's my life in a nutshell recently. I'm trying to be strong and courageous...sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't even a little bit. I guess I can only take it day by day and try to trust God with my whole life, not just the parts I'm ok with not completely controlling.