This year I was asked to do a workshop on marriage. It was a humbling topic. God has been speaking to me recently through the Bible studies and books I have been reading. They all seem to deal with the same topics (honestly it was unintentional) - dying to self, facing fears, trusting God. So as I prepared my workshop, I had Luke 9:23-24 on my list of scriptures to share.
And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
Funny thing, because unbeknownst to me, that was the retreat theme verse and the main speaker shared several things that seemed to be speaking just to me.
She shared about how in life she realized fear was the Lord of her life and not Jesus. She realized she had to get God in control and not fear. My heart echoed with this truth. Fear has had way too much control in my decisions and actions for too long. Some of it is fear of the unknown and the bad things that happen and other parts are just fears of being perceived as a bad mom or something similar. I try so hard to have life controlled and ordered.
The next morning she shared another quote that hit me between the eyes. She shared that God said to her, "Laura, you want to get all your ducks in a row, but shoot the ducks and follow me."
That one phase stuck with me all weekend, in fact, you may even see me wearing it on a t-shirt one day because I love it.
SHOOT THE DUCKS!
Stop trying to keep everything perfect, shoot those ducks in a row and just follow Jesus! That is the recipe for the best life, not checking all the boxes.
What hoops are you jumping through to orchestrate your life? Is it causing you stress or peace? Chances are, its causing you to lose your mind, not have the mind of Christ. Following Jesus won't always look like your neighbor or that perfect woman who sits two rows in front of you in church (p.s. she's not really perfect, she probably is losing her mind with all her ducks). Following Jesus will look different, true its all under the umbrella of scriptural truth, but how God plays that out in us will not look the same because we are all different.
If we are the body of Christ all with different gifts, as the Bible says, then we weren't made to look the same. We were made to do what God created us to do. Seek him and find what that looks like, not the standard of perfection for women in 2019.
There is no YouTube video for how God wants you to do you. You have to seek him in his word and study the Bible. Getting that time to connect with God and understand how he made you allows you to put it all together and find the freedom to be that special person he designed. God's plan is better than anything you could ever imagine!!! So who is with me? Who is ready to shoot the ducks and follow Jesus?
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