Recently, I spent some time away from home visiting with a good friend. These visits are always good for my heart (and hers too I think!) Friendship is such a gift from God.

One of the things we like to do while I visit in the summer is shop! We are both paper crafters, and we hit up ALL the crafting stores we can! We go from store to store to store! And we buy so much fun stuff! This time, we also bought some things to help organize her craft space in her home. I was so happy to share my ideas and be able to help her with her lovely space! As most of you know, when you really dig in and decide to organize something (like your junk drawer, your game closet, your pantry and so on…) that it WILL get worse before it gets better. The only way to really organize effectively is to also purge. The process of purging is tedious. You can’t purge with out looking at every single thing! It’s time consuming and messy!

After she and I had gone though a giant pile of pattern paper, (a must for any paper crafter) (you can never have to much pattern paper…until you do) I gathered up a humongous arm full, to carry to the trash bin outside. Being as I am a first born, and therefore stubborn and able to “handle things” on my own, I made my way, solo, to the front of the house. I did allow her hubby to open the front door for me, but when he offered to come open the lid of the trash can for me, I said “no thanks, I got this.” I am certain that you are already ahead of me in this story, and if you’re as smart as I think you are, you already know what happened! I made my way to the can just fine, I even got the lid to the can open on my own, but as I tried to lift those really heavy stacked papers into the can, disaster struck! There I am, alone in the driveway, hoping no neighbors can see me, as I scurry to pick them all up. My friend came out and, of course, laughed at me! “You got this huh?” she said as she laughed and helped me pick up the papers! We giggled about that and repeated the phrase “I got his!” many times as our visit continued!

At the end of that trip, I drove home to my empty house, as my hubby was at work. That meant that I would be unloading the car by myself. Now, being a mutli-tasker, I always do several things at once. Maybe you can relate? I seldom do one thing at a time, and this is not always a good thing. Maybe you can relate to me, if you are the type that also tries to carry all the grocery bags into the house in one trip, even if you lose circulation in your arm from the bags being heavy and digging into your skin. This was pretty much my philosophy while unpacking the car too. So I piled my arms high with my belongings, and headed toward the house, only to lose my shaky grip on a brand new box of white envelopes, and watch them scatter all over the driveway….sound familiar? “I got this!” I heard myself say out loud. Now I am laughing at myself as I pick them up! When will I learn?

Not soon enough.

The very next day I did my grocery shopping. Well, I picked up a grocery order that I placed online from the convenience of my phone/couch/jammies. When I got home from all my errands (including a run to the big box store) I had a sizable amount of items to bring in from the car. Alone. Again. But nothing stops me! (though it probably should). You guessed it. I dropped something! This time it was a new GLASS jar of salsa…..imagine my horror, as I watched the jar hit the tile in my kitchen, splatter salsa all over the walls, and spread glass shards far and wide! Why oh why am I so stubborn?! Why can’ I just slow down and be more thoughtful to my own circumstances? Why must I feel the need to do everything by myself all at once? “You got this huh?” I heard the Lord say in my head.

Wowsers. I do that to God all the time, don’t I? I am so busy “knowing” how to do things on my own. To prideful or unaware, to know that I need help. To confident in my own abilities to consider the consequences. I just press forward , certain that I can do “this”, whatever “it” is, that I drop things. I break things. I make a mess of my own life sometimes.

James 1:5

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

Matthew 7:7

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Both of these verses work from the assumption that we are aware of two things:

• We know we should ask for help, that we realize that we do not “got this” by ourselves. Matthew 7:7

• We He is waiting to guide us through our earthly troubles. James 1:5.

Am I suggesting that you pray before you carry a load of groceries from the car? Not necessarily. What I am suggesting is that we all slow down, take a step back, and look at our life, the choices and decisions we make, through the lens of scripture. And that we do not simply forge on under our own power, but that we truly, wholeheartedly, and honestly seek Him. How much smoother would life be if we slowed things down a bit and REALLY asked for God’s wisdom rather than doing what we THINK just feels best.

Matthew 6:33 “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” When you and I allow the heart of God to permeate our thoughts and decisions, He will ALWAYS give wisdom. He will gladly answer a righteous prayer from our heart to His, seeking His will.

God desires connection and a relationship with us above all else. That connection is why He sent Jesus, and why Jesus left the Holy Spirit with us, to guide us. We are not equipped to handle this life on our own. We are structured to operate best with a Guide. You and I will experience a much more joyful, peaceful, and purpose filled life when we first seek Him. Let’s not rush into decisions to hurry out of whatever struggle we face. Let’s be people who stop dropping our stacks of papers (issues) and our jars of salsa (trials), because we stubbornly (and sometimes unconsciously) tell God that we have “got this”.

Let’s realize that we can only truly declare “I got this” after we have handed the issues, and trials, and decision making over to God first. When we have looked to His word for wisdom, and through prayer, have sought His leading and direction.

He is willing, are you?