What Would it Look Like to Let Go?

Here I was at the top.

Elevation around 4,800 feet about sea level.

It was foggy. Visibility greatly diminished.

The winds were gusty, blowing snow and sleet into my face.

The only way to get back to where I wanted to be, was down.

The only way to get back to warmth and to escape from the cold elements was down a slope I didn’t want to go down. There were no easier options. Here I was wondering what it would look like if I just let go.

I’ve been skiing since I was a young girl, but I’m far from an expert. I can carve some mountains but no matter how well I think I’m doing, I am no Olympic athlete. As I’ve gotten older I find myself playing it safer than when I was much younger, with less fear and less creaks in the joints. But nonetheless, I want to stay as active as I can for as long as I can.

This particular December day, standing at the top of an advanced slope, I was somewhere in the middle of crying and being brave. As I carefully edged my way down the icy terrain, part of me wanted to just go for it and channel my inner Olympian, but the other (more logical) side of me stood weighing my options, scared to start edging my way down.

I eventually made it safely to the bottom. As I rode the lift back to more comfortable conditions, I found myself wondering. There’s a lot in life that we have to let go of in order to grow and embrace this life we have.

I’m not sure about you, but relinquishing control is hard. I like feeling a sense of accomplishment when things are taken care of. Knowing how my day is going to go. A sense of security in my comings and goings. Comfort like a warm blanket that I don’t want to unwrap.

I don’t do well in the uncomfortable.

What about you?

I was out of my comfort zone on the slope that day. I had to relinquish some control that day or I could have gotten hurt. I had to trust the conditions, my equipment, and most of all God to bring me safely down the slope. I wonder how many times a day God wants me to let go and trust Him?

What would it look like if I trusted God with my future?

What would it look like if I trusted God with my plans for a family?

What would it look like if I trusted God with big decisions?

To trust that He has a plan for our seasons of grief, during times of loneliness, or when things just do not make sense.

I’m learning little by little, that giving up control and trusting God makes all the difference. It doesn’t mean that everything will be okay or without change, but it means that you and I will be okay. As Louie Giglio says, “When God has our attention, things change.” May you rest in His Presence today and let go of whatever may be holding you back from trusting Him.

2 Corinthians 4:13-18 (NIV)

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.