Stop Taking The Pen Back

“What I want more than anything: what God wants.”

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11

When we give our lives to Jesus, we pick up our cross and follow after Him. We surrender our past, present, and future to Him. Complete surrender. Handing Him the pen to write our story and letting go of all control. Trust. Like a sweet child’s innocent trust in their parents to provide for their every need and know what’s best for them… even if they don’t understand. 

If this is what we are supposed to do - why do we keep taking that darn pen back?! We give it to Him… snatch it back real quick to edit or add something… then we give it back again… but oops, forgot to add in this little twist or lie or confusing paragraph to bring everything off track;  ugh, Jesus take the pen!!! And back and forth we go. What does it take to just completely surrender that pen?

I don’t know if it’s possible to never take that pen back. I don’t believe there’s a magic word you can say or pill you can take. We are told that our journey with Jesus isn’t easy… but it’s so, so worth it, friend. It’s DAILY picking up your cross to follow Him. DAILY surrender. And sometimes it’s minute by minute; because our flesh is fighting against the Spirit constantly. But God is good and He tells us that when we are weary, He will give us rest. 

I realized recently that I had an image that I wanted to keep… and an idea of who I wanted to be. But that image didn’t have any grace and it was keeping me in a spiritual prison. What I want more than anything: what God wants. So I’ve been learning to surrender my image to Him. And not just my image, but my husband’s image and my children’s images. I want God to be the author of each of our stories with oceans of grace and stories of redemption. But that can’t happen if I don’t let go of control and let God keep the pen.

Action Step:

• Do you trust that God has good plans for you? Do you trust that He is ultimately the best author of your story? Spend some time in prayer and ask God to show you where you are trying to write your own story. Where you might have goals and dreams that He hasn’t given you. Where you are forcing something that might not be where He is guiding you. Align your life with His will. An easy way to do this is to start everyday by asking God what He wants you to do that day!

Written by Rachel, pen-passing mom of 3