Cease Striving

 Have you ever been so worried about everyone and everything that you lost sleep? Another translation says it this way: "Cease Striving and know I am God" Psalm 46:10 NASB. What exactly does "cease striving" mean? In some translations, it says "Be still and know I am God." Be still or Cease Striving, have one thing in common, they both require you to stop. STOP. Stop trying so hard to impress everyone. Stop trying to do good deeds to make everyone accept you. Stop being so concerned about pleasing others. God wants us to stop it. He wants us to know that he is the one who can take care of us. He can clean up the mess and make it a message! When reading Psalm 46, it clearly says God is the one who can put a stop to wars. He can put a stop to the war raging within your heart. But he also has this way of taking the truth that we are inundated with and shaking up our worlds. When we see our condition, as we really are and are broken by it, something amazing happens. God steps in. He begins to comfort us. He is near to the broken- hearted and to all who are crushed in spirit,

. Being broken is a part of being real. It is like looking at yourself in the mirror when you first wake up in the morning. (not a pretty sight for most of us) and knowing that God loves you "just the way you are" with messed up hair, drool. smudges of yesterday,smelly breath. He LOVES THAT PERSON. You do not have to do anything to make him love you. You could go out in public all scuzzy and he would still love you. I am one of those who would rather not go out like that. I want my hair brushed, makeup on, and teeth brushed. NO WAY do I want people to see me that way. But what if they did? What if I had an emergency and I had to run to the grocery store and my hair was a mess? Would I still be the same person on the inside? OF COURSE! How we appear to others is not as important as what we are in our hearts. In our relationship with Jesus. He sees all our sin, he sees all the ugliness.. and still loves us just the way we are. I do not have to go strive to be a good person for God to love me, I do not have to get busy getting involved in every charitable organization for God to love me. I do not have to live a perfect life for God to love me. I come to him as I am, flaws and all- now this is a daily process. This is not something that happens overnight. Maybe for some people they have this miraculous transformation, but for most of us, it is a day by day journey. Sometimes we make mistakes. We brush ourselves off, tell God all about it, and let HIM be God. God can move mountains, WE CANNOT. Cease trying to fix all the problems yourself. (yeah I am talking to myself here too) .  Maybe it happened to show us just how flawed we are. Maybe we needed to have our pride crushed down. Whatever the case is, Gods love does not change. He will take us from where we are and cultivate us.What we need is a good dose of letting God be God. He knew that situation was going to happen, before the beginning of time. He knew you were going to fall away, or be tempted in some way. But He still loves us. He is still God. He is working it all out for his good. Whatever you are going through, be confident in this, those times when everything seems so out of control, those are the times that we are GROWING.

Think of it this way: The Potter and the clay: When the potter sees a flaw in the clay, he mashes it  back down in to a ball and starts over, adding moisture, and his hands to the wheel to mold and shape that clay into the perfect pot. It is not the first time around that the pot is made perfect, it takes many trys. All that clay has to do is be on the potters wheel. It does not have to do anything but allow the potter to mold and shape it.

Lord, Let us be like a big lump of clay. ready to be transformed into your image. Let us stop trying to make ourselves look good. Let us trust that you are God and you have it all under control. You can move mountains, you can stop wars. Let us have the faith that you have this all under control. Your will is working even as we are hurting or worrying. You are near to us. Help us to cease striving and know you are God. You are God and you are in control. Let us let you mold us and shape us, let us be unashamed of the process it takes to be made into your image.

May you find peace letting go and letting God, 

            Ruth A. Hidalgo

(Thanks to my husband[above] who ministers to me when I am at my wits end!) Love HIM to the moon and back!