40&7 Devotional: A Guide To Peace During A Custody BattleSample

Decide Immediately to give things to God

Before ever opening an e-mail, answering a phone call, or responding to a voicemail from a person whose name makes our stomach drop when we see it on our screens, we have to decide immediately, in the moment, that whatever comes at us is an issue for God to handle; that we will give any emotion, thought, or feeling over to God; that without even knowing all the details, we will trust that God can handle the situation.

Doing this was one of my greatest challenges as I went through my battle, yet it also had the greatest impact on me when I embraced it. I don’t know if it was my need to be in control or the fact that I thought I knew best how to handle everything, but it was so hard for me to turn each circumstance over to God.

One day as I was speaking to a group of women about this topic, I accidently slipped and said, “When we finally decide that we can’t do anything to fix our problem, then God can step in. He is the only person who can handle it from the beginning, and He is the only person who can handle it in the end, so let Him handle it.” That’s when I had one of those “Did you hear what you just said? How about you remember that?” moments. The truth is, as I spoke those words to those women, I knew I needed to hear them as much as anyone out there listening.

How silly of us to think that we can have anything to do with how our situation is going to turn out anyway. We are just vessels meant to bring about God’s glory on Earth. We are God’s original thought, His original design, and His original creation. We live only in the reality that He creates. It only makes sense for us to lessen our anxiety by not trying to control an outcome that has yet to become a reality by God. We must learn to listen to Him as we decide to immediately give it, whatever "It" is, over to Him, even when we don’t yet know what we are handing over.

Think about It!

What false realities have you attempted to take control over? What do you think will change when you trust God and leave it with Him?