Grasping

You may have heard me mention before I book that I love called, "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young.  I love it.  It sits on my nightstand and every morning as soon as I wake up I reach for it.  Well, I guess the first thing I do is hit my snooze button a few times, lay in bed and think about how I don't want to get out of the warm blankets and then I reach for it.  I love this book because it gets my mind focused for the day.  The author is able to pack so much punch into two short paragraphs that every morning I feel like I got way more than just two paragraphs.  And for me that is really good, because early mornings are not my thing.  If I tried to read lots of pages every morning to get some real meat to start my day, I would be falling asleep with the book in my arms and giving my beloved snooze button one more tap.  This book brings it.  Does not hold back.  Tells it like it is.  And that is just what I need first thing in the morning.....no fluff, just bring it.

The other thing I really love about this book is that the author writes it as if Jesus is talking directly to you.  Each entry has Scripture that correlates with it and is used by the author in the writing.  A few mornings ago when I read the entry for that day, I was very challenged by the words.  This is what it said:

Seek My Face, and you will find not only My Presence but also My Peace.  To receive My Peace, you must change your grasping, controlling stance to one of openness and trust.  The only thing you can grasp without damaging your soul is My hand.  Ask My Spirit within you to order your day and control your thoughts, for the mind controlled by the Spirit is Life and Peace.

The most persistent choice you face is whether to trust Me or to worry.  You will never run out of  things to worry about, but you can choose to trust Me no matter what.  I am an ever-present help in trouble.  Trust Me, thought the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.

 I need that.  I need in the morning to hear Jesus calling me to trust.  I need to know I have two choices....worry or trust.  The line that got me that morning and that I have thought of everyday since is, "The only thing you can grasp without damaging your soul is My hand."  No beating around the bush there.  As I read it I started thinking of all the things I do grasp for to try to bring me peace....the list could go on forever, but to name a few.....I grasp onto thinking there is something I can do to make Ashlyn walk before she is ready, I grasp to try to please everyone around me and meet all of their expectations, I grasp to the hope that everyone around me will meet my expectations of them, I grasp to the pressure I feel in a culture obsessed with beauty and airbrushed magazine covers to stay a certain size.....and the list could go on.  When I read that line it was so challenging and so freeing at the same time.  I know I grasp to things other than Christ to try maintain a feeling of peace, but that morning I heard in my spirit very clearly Jesus saying to me...,"You can grasp all you want, but all you need to grasp to is Me.  Everything else is dead." 

The word "damages" in that line is what really got me.  That the only thing I can grasp on to without damaging my soul is Christ.  And, in my day to day life when I find myself getting caught up in worries or obsessions, I don't think about it being damaging, but when I step back, I sure do feel it.  There is NO freedom in trying to control when milestones will be met, trying to please everyone or in trying to compete with women on the covers of magazines who aren't even real.  It does damage.  It isn't how Christ meant for us to live.  It isn't abundant life to its fullest.

I think the reason that entry on that particular morning got me the most, is because I have been on a journey with God in this area for awhile and feel Him moving me to new places.  We are getting somewhere.  I don't want a damaged soul....I don't want worry to win over trust.  I want freedom.....the abundant life I know God has for us.  And, the thing is it is a fight...it is a battle.  I know every morning when I wake up I have a choice to make....what will I grasp to?  When I grasp onto Christ, I find peace.  It is there every time.  Freedom....abundant life....a whole soul.......all found when my hand is placed in His.  What are you grasping to in order to find peace?