Learning to Let Go

The Story:
My baby sister, Gianna, was adopted from China several years ago.  Unfortunately, with so many little ones to care for and very few nannies, many of these children grew up under-developed and, in my sister’s case, lacking the knowledge on how to eat food.  Don’t get me wrong, they fed the children, just not well. They were fed something called congee, and if you don’t know what congee is, let me enlighten you...it’s disgusting, mushy, slimy, runny, suck it through a bottle nipple, boiled down rice.

So, when we adopted my baby sister, one of the first things we did was introduce her to good American food...or the best American food you can find in China: McDonalds.  And let me tell you, she loved the french fries.  With the little dexterity she had, she held them tightly within her fist and proceeded to mash the fry ends that protruded on either side of her fist into her mouth.  Imagine the first caveman attempting to eat a carrot. The problem was, a good portion of fry was still under her tightly curled fingers, and that’s where she got stuck.  Gianna couldn’t figure out how to get in under her own fingers to the last morsel of McDonald’s goodness, and worse yet, she wouldn’t let us help her.  That french fry was hers and no one was going to touch it.



The Lesson:
This memory always makes me laugh, but it is a lesson.  How many things (like my sex life, or lack of one) am I holding in my fist, trying to protect them from the One who could fix them?
The thought is, “Somehow God is going to mess this up.”  “He’s going to make sure I don’t get what I want.”  “If I let God take care of it, He’s going to ask me to give up everything, I ever wanted.”

But the Bible tells us differently:

 Luke 11:11-12  

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?


Mathew 7:11
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

God is good and His gifts are good; therefore His presence in our plans, our processes, and our lives is good.  We were created to love and glorify God forever; therefore when we aren’t in harmony with the Lord nothing in our life will be good or at peace. Our desires should be His desires, because His desires are good.


Romans 8:5-6
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.


When we want outside of God’s desires, our lives are reduced to fighting for something we were never really intended to have, or at least have “that” way.  If we let God build our life (or sex life) the way He has designed it for us, only then can we truly live.


Matthew 16:25
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.



On a completely different non-blogish note:
My 17yr old sister is undergoing surgery tomorrow morning.  An MRI showed that her brain has herniated out of her skull and is causing pressure on her spinal cord, the cause of her 3 month long migraine.  The purpose of the surgery is to remove a piece of her skull in order to make room for the enlarged brain tissue.  If you would please pray for her and her surgeon I would be most grateful.