{Be Encouraged} Letting Go to Hold On.

A while back I was frustrated and overwhelmed. It seemed that every time I turned around I was finding another area of my life I needed to change or give up to become a “good Christian” or I would realize that I let people or things become to important in my life and I needed to again surrender them to the Lord. One day as I was having my devotions, I was journaling my frustration to the Lord about how much He has called me to give up and let go of to follow Him.

Finally I just said, “Lord, what is there that I can hold onto? I feel like you are calling me to let go of everything, but is there anything I can hold firmly to!?” It just so happened that my bible reading for the day was Proverbs 3 and as I read though the Proverb I started to notice things I hadn’t seen before in this very familiar passage. First I noticed the things in this chapter that I am called to let go of like, evil, fear, foolishness and so on. “Great, more things for me to add to my list”, I thought, but then I started to realize that this chapter is also full of things that I can hold on to! Things like – Love and faithfulness, Godly discipline, humility and wisdom! According to Proverbs 3 these are things that I am never supposed to let leave me or forsake me. God is so incredible at showing himself to me when I least expect it! Through this chapter in Proverbs the Lord also brought to mind the fruit of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, all things that I can hold onto and cultivate in my life.

The more I pondered these things the more I realized that it is only when I let go of evil, selfishness, pride, fear, foolishness, etc. that I can truly hold onto the things that the Lord wants to grow and shape in my character. I can by no means say that I have “let go” of everything in my life that I need to, but as I have been learning to let go God has been helping me hold onto Him and His promises.

I would challenge you this week to read through Proverbs 3 and come up with a list of things to “let go” of and a list of things to “hold onto”. May the Lord bless you as you continue to seek Him and bring honor and glory to His name. -Kristina