Learning To Walk

When an infant is born, he has no ability to do anything except for allowing his own natural body functions to perform. Eating, talking, walking and even playing has to be taught to him, he has to learn how to do everything and he is dependent on his parents to teach him and help him. In a lot of ways, when we are born again to God, we are a lot like that infant. The problem with that is, the older we get, the more we cling to our own understanding and past experiences on how to do things. One of the hardest things to do in life is to totally surrender to God and allow Him to take control of our lives. There is an incredible amount of risk involved when surrendering to God. First of all, there is the unknown. We have no concept of what God's plan is for us, and not knowing how or what to expect can be scary. Second, there is going be to pain, and a lot of it. When we begin the surrendering process, we are going to be asked to let go of stuff that we love, stuff that we hold on to and think that we can't live without. God is asking us to trust Him with that stuff. Just like parents who know what is best for their child, God knows what is best for us.
When an infant learns how to walk for the first time, it can be a very intimidating moment for both the parents and the child. I don't remember what was going through my head as an infant when I was learning to walk, but I'm pretty sure it was nerve racking and exciting at the same time. And, as a parent who was teaching my kids to walk, I pretty much felt the same way. Learning to walk is one of the biggest things to accomplish in early life. It gives us mobility and freedom. It also builds confidence. I remember how proud my kids looked when they all learned how to walk. Sometimes in our life, we can lose our way. We have to learn how to walk again and for us Christians, this means we have to let God teach us how to do so. He knows what the best directions are, what steps to avoid and when we should rest.
Recently, I have been challenged to surrender something that I love with all of my heart. Something that I have been too dependent on and afraid to let go of. I took that step yesterday, of letting go of my control over that thing that I love so much. After a night of pain and realization of what I have done, I woke this morning to God's voice asking me again, "Nick, do you still trust Me"? As I lay there allowing my brain to fully awaken and to catch up to my rambling thoughts, I recognized what He was talking about. He is going to teach me how to walk again. For the past fifteen years, I have forgotten how to walk on my own. I have become selfish and over dependent on the people that I love the most. I once wrote about allowing God to start chiseling away the crap that has caused havoc in my life. I thought that I was almost done with this journey until yesterday. This (hopefully the last) chunk has to be removed so that I cannot only walk, but run at full speed with God.
Surrendering requires patience, trust and faith. There is going to be a tremendous amount of effort on my part over the next several weeks (or months, or years, or however long it takes), but I'm ready for the challenge. It is going to be very painful at times, but my focus is on God. In the end, I believe that I will be a better, more self driven and independent man, and that God will return some of the things that I love.

Job 42:10-17 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

I pray that any of you who are going through a difficult storm in life, learn how to lean on God and trust Him through these times. I pray that you are able to fully surrender to Him so that He can teach you how to walk again and be the person that He designed you to be. I pray this in Jesus' name.

Peace!