Laying it All Down

“And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:38-39 ESV

I read the book by Kyle Idleman called Not a Fan a few years back. It was very convicting of how so often we are just fans of Christ and not followers.  Jesus called us to be followers. To lay everything down for Him. 

This morning I was thinking about how amazingly our God restores. When we truly lay all of our life at His feet then He does amazing things with what we give Him. In order to lay it all down sometimes we have to face difficult and heart breaking situations. They break down the pride and control we think we have. Then we recognize that God is bigger and we lay it at His feet. 

When we give things to God - things like unmet expectations, dreams, relationships, our children, our fears and our desire for what we think is a normal life - He picks those up and sometimes crushes them completely in order to remake them into the beautiful design that He has for us. He takes out the imperfections and when He restores them to us they may look nothing like we imagined but they are more vibrant and alive and more closely follow His will. 

That's really hard for me. I want to fix things and work out plans and see my kids do exactly what I think is best for them. I stumble and fall and when I lay things at His feet sometimes I try to pick them up and take them back. But God never gives up. He keeps breaking and piecing together and reshaping and remolding and making beautiful things from the broken pieces. 

Laying it all down is a daily thing. We have to let go every day of what we want and let God. Just let Him show us the next step and the next direction. What peace comes from knowing that the God of creation and resurrection is holding the pieces of my life in His hands. He calls me to follow. Each day laying it down so He can pick it up and point towards home. Not home here in this mixed up scary world but home with Him. Someday I will be perfect in His arms seeing how He fit all the pieces together. I just have to follow. I don't have to worry about the tomorrows. Just seek Him every day with all I am.