Not by force

I was reading my Bible this morning and this part stood out to me:
"It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty."
Here's another way of saying it from the Message:
"You can't force these things. They only come about through my Spirit"

[click on pix to go to artist's site]

If you could put a word in place of "IT" what would it be? Love? Joy? Peace? Contentment? What have you been forcing in your life that just cannot happen by force?

There is something about hard work and determination that is the best combination for a variety of different endeavors. But have you ever been in a situation that hard work and determination will not help? In fact it may make it worse? It seems like the important life lessons only come about when you learn to trust in something/someone bigger than yourself.

Maybe it's a test to see who we really belive is in control. Who is in control of your most frustrating situation right now? You or Him? Are you relying on hard work and determination or are you relying on Him?

Being the control freak that I am, I hate this. I want to be able to work hard and get anything I want . . . wait a second. I think that's called spoiled brat. My bad. Anyway, it's true. Ask anyone close to me and they'll confirm this. If I want something, I do what it takes to get it. There is nothing more frustrating to me to not be in control; to not be able to get what I want.

This is the kind of frustration that led me into counseling years ago, suicidal. This is the kind of frustration that makes it really hard for me to communicate my feelings and the kind of frustration that has made me think that there is something wrong with me because I am single. You cannot control those you love. That is one of the hardest things for me to swallow. It's even harder admitting that I struggle with that. How pathetic for someone to want to control those they love. And really, in the grand scheme of things, I don't want to control others. No one wants to love someone who wants to control them. If I consider the implications of having my loved ones do everything I wanted, it would probably fall apart anyway.

I find God in these frustrations. I feel his presence more in these areas of my life. These are the times when I have no choice but to throw up my hands and say, I give up. Take it. So, coming from a Father who just wants to know me and be close to me and help me, I can understand why he allows those frustrations in my life. It causes me to run to him and cry for help because I can't make it happen. And if that's what life's all about--focusing on God and learning to love--than I guess it's all worth it.