I have a confession to make. I’m not crazy about some Bible verses. You know, the convicting ones. The ones that divide marrow and joints, that “Judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12, NIV). The particular verse I’m thinking of is Proverbs 3:5-6; “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (NIV). If you’ve been in Christian circles for a bit, I’m sure you’ve heard this verse before. It shows up on cute little plaques and magnets in Christian book stores, and is often quoted at graduations as advice for the new graduate. It sounds sweet, simple and easy to understand and follow. I mean we all know Solomon, who wrote the Book of Proverbs, was the wisest man in the world, so why should this passage bother me? Well, I’m a planner and I figure-it-out- er. If you are like me, you overthink everything. You figure out everything. You speculate about everything until your brain hurts. You’re a fixer, a solution finder. The whole world depends on you. If this describes you, you might be a mom like me. The mom who over packs for family vacations, squeezing every little item that might be needed in case of injury, sickness, accident, trip delay, hunger, thirst- I think you get the picture.
But, over the years God has tripped me up with all my planning and figuring out for every contingency. Just when I think everything is going as planned and is all figured out, bam! something I hadn’t planned happens. Then I am left scrambling to figure out what to do and how to react, or why did this happen? It is usually about this same time I will be reminded of Proverbs 3: 5-6. Maybe from a sermon or the verse of the day on the radio. But there it is “trust in God, don’t lean on your own understanding. Uggh! then comes the guilt over leaning on my own understanding.
So, I’d like to offer this hope for all of you fixers out there and planners. God has a way of helping us to understand His Word through practical application and experience. I’ve learned to pause and trust God when I’m overwhelmed by my thoughts of figuring it all out. It has taken time, but God is patient, He never leaves us as we were, but changes us overtime to become all He has for us, transforming us into the likeness of Jesus.(2. Cor. 3:18)
Recently, my husband and I moved to a new home. We are on the verge of being empty nesters with our youngest in his sophomore year of college. So, we decided to sell our large two story four bedroom house for the smaller bungalow with the master bedroom downstairs. Our house sold within 24 hours of going live on the market. Wow! So we had been looking to build a new home with all the bells and whistles, fresh clean, new. But.. we couldn’t find a good fit for us, we went to every open house, checked out new home communities and it was getting stressful. But the stress was just beginning. We stopped at our current home with our real estate agent, and took a quick look. It wasn’t even on our list to tour for the day. It was the last house to see and we were just driving by when our agent saw the for sale sign on the lawn. We returned home later that afternoon and decided the home we toured might be a good buy, so we quickly put in an offer. It really wasn’t what we “thought” we wanted as it was not new. I had promised myself I wouldn’t compromise on my desire for a brand new build. So here I was putting an offer on a older home. Yikes! Of course after the offer was accepted I began to second guess myself. What had we done? My husband and I pray about all decisions and we prayed for God’s direction and if He wanted us to continue, then the doors would remain open. We trusted God would lead us. But to be honest I woke up on many early mornings and panicked. What we were doing? This can’t be right. Maybe we made a mistake. I wanted a brand new house this time. The purchasing process continued and then it was time to move in. And little by little I began to understand this house, was the one I was looking for. It had all the bells and whistles as a former model home. It was perfectly set on a pond lot with a long driveway- just what we were looking for in a newer home. The appliances were upgraded and not builder grade. I could go on, but I’m sure I would bore you. So, I’ll just say, God had it under control. He knew what we needed better than we did. I was looking at the outside, not really understanding what I thought I needed. When God began to show me this, He reminded me of Proverbs 3:5-6. I am slowly learning to trust God, follow His opportunities and let Him direct my paths. I’m a slow learner- definitely a work in progress. But aren’t we all? We are not perfect nor have we arrived. We can’t figure it all out. As much as I try- I need to relax and trust God. This applies to this next stage of life for my husband and I. This is unknown territory to us as we become empty- nesters. But I know God’s got this! I don’t have to figure it out! -God Bless -Nancy
Moving Forward 