Release the ctrl button!

I recently chanced upon this book by Fr Jacques Phillipe “Searching for and Maintaining Peace” via a Lenten Podcast and it was a Divine discovery. There were so many “a-ha” moments that I really felt God was speaking to me, in His timely way. I was deeply impacted by a sentence in the podcast.

Control is an illusion. Man’s only real choice is surrender

Indeed it made me rethink my approach to surrender, not as a last resort but a spiritual sweet spot. I realised that I did not have confidence in God’s Providence and everyday I was trying various means to extricate myself by my own resources and that was the source of my unhappiness. I was trying to control what is out of my control. Everytime I tried to take back control, I would do so out of fear. Fear of what would happen if I let go and let God. But why was I so afraid? Did I have a reason to fear? I realised I didn’t. God, who wants only the best for us, who wants us to know and love Him, loves us with a perfect love. He is constant, He abides with us. Ah, we have no reason to fear!

You can either choose to trust God or you can deny God’s opportunity to move in your life.

It is this fear of suffering, of being without something that prevents us from truly surrending to God’s will. It seems we have lost confidence in God’s ability to provide for us. We are not getting the answers we have envisioned in our minds and we start to doubt the power of our Creator. It seems audacious to hope, to place our trust in anyone except ourselves. Yet, the Lord is inviting us to return to Him in confidence.

“Why don’t you have confidence in me?” – conversation between God and St Catherine of Siena

Let us invite Him into the spaces we try and cover with our own self-reliance. So often the world distracts us by turning our attention away from the Comforter to the sources of our discomfort. The world and it’s concerns try to distract us from keeping our eyes transfixed on Jesus. We are told that we are not pretty enough, we should eat less, we should act sexy, we should aim higher…. Yet our worth has not changed one bit in the eyes of our Saviour. He sees you as the daughter of the Most High. He sees you for your kindness, your generosity, your humility… your inner beauty. The Lord sees you for who you are, a beloved daughter of God. While we may be told otherwise or be led to question our identity in Him, let us instead pause and ask Him gently, “Lord where do you want me to be? Lord what can I do for you?”

It’s made me realise that I am happiest when I am serving Him. I don’t know fully yet how He wants me to serve Him. But I pray that He will guide us all in our arid deserts and parched lands to the beauty of total abandon to His Divine will.

Let your faith be bigger than your fear.

You can find Fr Jacques Phillipe's insightful book over here:

https://scepterpublishers.org/products/searching-for-and-maintaining-peace