It’s 4.02am at my house – and I was awake, thinking about YOU and praying for you. I thought about a gift that I would like to send to you, with love, for Christmas. 🤗 So here it is 🎁  …”Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him : do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;  do not fret—it leads only to evil  For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” Psalm 37:7-9 Presents often look pretty on the outside, but it’s actually what’s inside that counts. Let’s ‘unwrap’ this one.

So, the above scripture is my gift to you for today. What does it mean to: ‘be still before the Lord?’ For me it means give up. Give up whatever it is that is bugging me, making me cry, or causing me awful pain – LET. IT.GO. I know I sound like a Disney movie (!!) ❄️ But doing this works. And after that, every single time I start churning away about whatever it is that is bothering me – I let it go again. I’ve learnt that I need to give myself breathing space when it comes to difficult situations – being hurt or angry uses up a whole lot of energy! 

Meanwhile can I suggest you take tissues, tea, coffee, or water with you when you go and sit somewhere where you won’t be disturbed?  And please try to refrain from punching walls! 💥 Sadly you will only hurt yourself and then you will have physical pain as well as mental and emotional anguish. 🙄 Now, sit down and mentally, prayerfully, push the problem away from you. I usually tell the Lord … and yes, this happens to me quite often! … “I can’t do this anymore, and I’m absolutely sure I’m stuck. I need a new plan. I can’t fix … (insert whatever it is) … so I’m giving it to You, I don’t want it anymore.”

‘This thing’ – the current problem, could be a difficult situation, or a person who acts like your enemy, or even unanswered prayer. The first thing that needs to be realised is that when we give something to Jesus – it isn’t lost. I haven’t thrown it away, I SIMPLY GAVE IT TO SOMEONE WAY BETTER AT FIXING THINGS THAN I AM. I can still see the problem, but now I’ve taken my hands off it.  BTW, don’t make excuses for the other person. That is a dead end street, unless the Lord gives you something that you know to be true, and then you can pray FOR them. But excusing other people’s behaviour eventually leads to compounding your own frustration. Plus I’ve found that you can get very tired very quickly when the other person stays where they are – and you appear to be doing all the work! 

Next, I talk to Him about how I feel about whatever it is. This bit is extremely important, but please don’t get stuck there! We can end up building hatred and anger inside us if we revise who did what and start surmising why they did it or how it happened. (This is the “refraining from anger and turning away from wrath” bit.) The important thing is to get YOU out of the way and get whatever it is into the Lord’s hands. Then I simply repent. I remind myself that I am talking to Jesus and if I cannot be honest with Him, then He and I have a problem! Maybe I have tipped over into bitterness – which is another good place to humble myself and repent. 

I don’t have to feel bad about being honest with the Lord, He personally took my sin and nailed it to the cross. He already knows what I did. I usually spend a while doing this, mulling over my own responses and how I contributed to what happened. Then I admit that I wanted to thump whoever it was, but now I am over it … or not … as the case may be. “Help help” works here. Then I ask Him to heal my heart from the awful pain of betrayal and grief inside. I tell Him I want to change and I am prepared to fight my own natural responses so I can give Him room to change them.

Then I follow the instructions in the scripture and I exercise the power of choice. I may still feel incredibly angry … but, nevertheless, I still have a choice. This is part of relinquishment. We need to understand that we are powerless to change things, or other people, and we can get very stuck with their awful choices. But the point is, we don’t want to let their bad choices ruin our walk with Jesus – or our own lives! The Psalmist says: ‘do not fret when people get their own way. and it hurts you…’ (My translation) Trust me, I too have a long list of people that I know who qualify for that statement – but that does not negate my own responsibility.

Did you get the bit that says: ‘they succeed in their ways.’ Yeah. 😶 They wanted to hurt you and they did, and they meant to do it! But what are you gunna do about it? Are you going to let a person who intends to hurt you, control your life, your thoughts, your actions, your responses? Personally, I want Jesus to be  in charge – He faced a lot of mean people in His time and He knows how to do this stuff and get through it. BTW if I feel overwhelmed with pain, it is OK to let Him comfort me, because He was overwhelmed too. I remind myself that HE has a plan for me – it’s for my good. 

Plus, He is wa-ay smarter than my enemy. He knows how to get through this thing without it taking away my peace. That is why it is good to put Him in charge. He is so brilliant, He can take what was meant to harm me and work it together for my own good. And at the same time, He has a plan for the other person/people too. EVERYBODY BENEFITS WHEN WE PUT JESUS IN CHARGE. People who are deliberately malicious don’t get away with their actions – they will eventually have to face HIM – this Psalm says so! “…and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

At this moment in the process of unwrapping this present, you and I have another choice. The problem, or person, and/or the situation, is now over there, with the Lord. Will we walk away and leave it there? Or will we feel temporarily better from sharing, crying, yelling etc., and talking to Him … and then go and pick it up again as we leave? Or will we walk away free – knowing that the King of the Universe has got our back, and He is going to use this difficult situation to increase our trust in His goodness. Enjoy the present and have a great day. 👋🏻

PS. Hands on – my problem … Hands off – His problem.