Can you let me worry about it, please? These are words I utter on a regular basis in my house. My eight-year-old is a worrier. He likes to know what’s going on. He likes to supervise. And he likes to let you know if there’s something that doesn’t seem like it’s going the way he expects it to.
These are not all bad qualities; he likes to be prepared. But he hasn’t learned just yet that the life experiences my husband and I have had means that we’re far more equipped to tackle these challenges than he is. So his second-guessing often leads me to telling him (with maybe a little more exasperation in my voice than I’d like), “Could you let me handle it, please? I see that you’re frustrated. I know you’re not sure I understand. But I have it under control. It’s going to work out. If you’ll just wait and watch, you’ll see that this is a better way.”
How many times have I done the same thing to God? “God, look! This isn’t going right at all! This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. Did you forget about this thing? Don’t forget that you promised.”
Yes, child. I see that you’re frustrated. I know you’re not sure I understand. But I have it under control. It’s going to work out. If you’ll just wait and watch, you’ll see that this is a better way. Only he says this to me without a trace of exasperation. His words drip with love.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
It’s amazing the things that motherhood can teach you about God, isn’t it? I know I can get so caught up in the piles of laundry, the endless schedules, bedtime battles, constant meal prep (you mean you expect dinner again today?!), and forget that even in the midst of all the daily struggles that threaten to grind me down to nothing, God has something to teach me. He is always at work.
He is speaking. He is molding us. His fingerprints are everywhere if we only take a moment to look and see.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out of my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11 (emphasis, mine)
God is accomplishing his purpose. We cannot stand in his way. And because we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28), we can trust that no matter how it looks from our perspective, God has our backs.
So will you let him handle it? God’s got skills, girlfriend. And he loves you more than you can possibly comprehend. Entrust him with the broken and the messy and the complicated, and watch as he turns it into something better than you can imagine.
Journal/Reflection Questions:
1. In what ways are your children teaching you about the nature of God?
2. In what areas are you second-guessing God? How can you reaffirm your trust in God’s plan for you?
Amber is a wife to her husband, Steve, and mom to her two children, Ethan and Stella. She grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippines and has a degree in literature from Bethel University. She writes about food and creative endeavors at By Amber’s Hands.