Meri's Sip of Encouragement #1: Proverbs 16:9

I usually do what is asked of me, well only if we are talking about human requests. When it comes to the Lord asking me to do something, it is so much easier to come up with any excuse in the world not to do it. But why? One word: control.

I thought that everything in my life had to be figured out to a T before I could go through with something. I would convince myself that if I didn’t have complete clarity over something, this was God’s way of telling me not to go down that road. Yet, in reality this was the complete opposite. This wasn’t God whispering direction, it was my own fear and lack of faith disguising itself as the lord of my life.

This need for control secretly ran my life, even to the point of where I felt like if I wasn’t worried about a situation, then that meant something was wrong. Friend, this is a bad place to be, but you are not stuck there!

Proverbs 16:9 tells us that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”. We can plan and try to take control of our lives all we want, but ultimately the Lord is going to establish the outcomes. What a joy that is!

Oftentimes the situations we find ourselves in with unknown outcomes, is exactly where God wants you to be. It’s in this place where we can learn to let go of control, lean into faith, and let God work. He doesn't need our understanding of what He is asking us to do, He just needs our obedience to do it.

Giving into these unknowns may seem crazy to most people, but we can’t let the fear of man hold us back from the beauty of taking the first step on the path God has established for you. For me, this situation looked like quitting my comfortable 9-5 to start Meri’s Coffee. To so many this looked like I was insane, honestly even to myself, but I knew that the Lord had something established for me that I wasn’t aware of. It just took being brave enough to take that first step in faith and letting go of control. 

Of course I still question and doubt my decision, but the good news is that I don’t have to know what’s ahead to know that it is good. Our steps in obedience will always lead us to greater outcomes than our need for understanding, which makes us stand still in fear. So let go of control and have faith that the Creator of all things, including your future, will get you to where you need to be.