Planning and Organizing

I’ve never really though of myself as a controlling person as I love supporting others in their endeavors. But in one of my readings today I came face-to-face with one of my roadblocks that I had been trying to identify.

One of my daily devotional readings is a small book by Sarah Young, “Jesus Calling”. In today’s reading it says, “A mind preoccupied with planning pays homage to the idol of control”. Wow. This really hit me. I’m such a planner! I plan meals, work events, art projects, household chores, gardening strategies etc… you name it. Nothing makes me happier than to have all these tasks lined out in an orderly fashion and broken down into my daily duties. It makes me feel so alive! I never dreamed this could be an idol if not kept in check.

So I got to thinking and realized that on the flip side of this planner coin is the stress, anxiety, and fear that often comes when unexpected things happen. This one is tricky because the more organized I am the better I deal with the unexpected because I have the mental space for it. But obviously, while I can handle some things, I don’t handle others so well. So I worked this backwards and started thinking about what stresses me out and I realize it is always when my life takes a turn I didn’t expect to the degree that I feel out of control. So not that every time the unexpected happens I’m stressed, but every time I’m stressed it’s because of something feels out of control. Something I didn’t plan for.

Having lost my family, job, home, financial security, vehicle repossession and burglary among other things over the past few years and not dealing with it very well - or maybe I have and this is what it looks like and I don’t like it - I have spent a ton of time and energy analyzing the decisions I made and trying to figure out what I did wrong. Because all of my planning and organizing and my level of faith did not prepare me for this and I thought it would prevent ‘bad’ things from happening.

I never looked at all my planning and organizing as a way for me to be in control but for me, sometimes it absolutely is. Planning is a skill and a good thing in many ways but I need to keep it in it’s place and I didn’t realize I had come to rely on my abilities to deal with things and was not focused on God and His ability to deal with it and help me through it.

The real beauty of this is that now that I realize that even planning and organizing can get out of control, I can keep it in it’s proper place if I focus more fully on trusting God FIRST and the more I do that the better my life will be. I will continue to plan and organize the best I can, but all UNDER the hat of trusting God to help me to it according to His will and timing.

My apologies for all the run-on sentences but I’ve decided to post short tidbits as often as I can instead of waiting until I have time to correct everything. It helps me to write these things and I hope it helps and encourages you too.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Laurie :)

Grounding....

 Today I am reminding myself what it means to me to be a counselor.  It's not just the honest interaction between myself and others, it's not that I'm 'helping people' (although I do value that).  Mostly I think it is that I am following God's direction in my life.  He gave me the skills I need to counsel those He puts in my life and I must trust Him to lead me where He wants me to go.  In this process, I am always learning, and so are those I counsel.  This is a beautiful relationship and I’m so blessed for each and every one of you who are a part of this.

But for today, I want to focus on counseling in general.  As many of you already know, the first step to solving a problem is to admit that you have a need that is not being met and desire a change that.  As Henry Cloud puts it, “We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.” 

God has made us with a variety of needs including spiritual, physical, emotional, psychological, and intellectual and He is ready and able to supply these needs.  When making important decisions, He provides scripture, guidance from the Holy Spirit and wisdom from people in our lives who provide godly examples and advice.  But we must seek it out.

What amount of pain will it take for you to stop procrastinating and make the change?  Is Fear in the way?  You have the power to do it.  So why are you not doing it?  Fear is a lack of trust and faith in God.  But why would we doubt Him, our loving Creator?  If you are suffering, godly counseling is often healing and should not bring shame or embarrassment.  Godly counseling reminds us all to rely on God as the main source of healing, integration, balance, wholeness, well-being, safety and approval. 

In John 5:1-9 it says,  “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water, then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.”

“Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?'”

“The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.”

This man was in the company of others who knew of his ailments, yet they apparently did not offer help him to the pool.  I think it’s so interesting that Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”  I cannot imagine there is any doubt that he wanted to be well, but this man had to desire to change, admit the desire and willingness to do what was necessary to change, and trust God to help him make that change.  I always wonder what he did with the rest of his life?  And there are so many things to talk about in this passage, but I will save those for another post. 

So while I am facing many changes in my life right now, I am reminded to completely trust in God.  For me that means:

I am not afraid because I trust and believe He will provide my needs

I will keep my focus on Him and what He wants me to do

I will follow His lead and not get ahead of Him or lag behind

If I feel fear creeping up, I will immediately identify it and turn it over to God

If I don’t receive what I am expecting, then I need to ask God to show me another direction.  Maybe this door has been closed so that another can open.

But mostly, I need to trust the changes in my life to be from God and embrace them.  

Do you need to make changes in your life?

Is your life changing and you don't want it to?

Remember to trust in God and turn to those in your life who are equipped and ready to help you during this time of transition to a better place.