He Knows Best - Letting Go of Control & Letting God Move

It sounds good to be in control, right? You are making sure everything is going well around you, doing your best to help others be their best and making sure you are controlling yourself, too.

Plus, people talk about how important it is to have self-control, so control MUST be a good thing. Right?

It’s really not and believing you can control everything around you is a fallacy.

Yes, it’s important to control ourselves, like our attitudes, actions & behaviors, but that’s it. We LITERALLY cannot control anything else but ourselves. And even the plans we make for ourselves, we can’t control if those things work out because it’s something outside of ourselves.

But we THINK we CAN control everything around us and that gets us in trouble.

We can be troubled emotionally and sometimes financially and with others.

You push and push and push for things to happen that you want or believe should happen but don’t realize it’s much easier to rely on God to manage things. But you’re worried God doesn’t know what you want (He does) and that it won’t happen when you want it if you leave it to Him (it might not but only because He knows the best timing), and if you DO leave it to Him, you won’t get the credit.

Here are 5 reasons why we need to let go of all ideas of control and surrender our lives to God:

1. We Don’t Know Everything
   1. The understanding we have about the world is VERY limited. We don’t know as much as we think we know. 
   2. Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
2. Feeling Anxious & Worried Isn’t Fun
   1. Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to worry anymore? That’s what can happen (for the most part) if we allow God to handle everything in our lives. 
   2. 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
3. We Should Be Trusting God With Everything
   1. He is our Heavenly Father and we should trust Him like He is. 
   2. Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
4. It’s Never Us Anyway
   1. Everything that happens in life is because of God. We think it’s in our own abilities, but it’s not. And the sooner we recognize this, the easier it will be to surrender everything to God and no longer feel the need to try to control everything.
   2. Proverbs 16:9, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”
5. God Knows Everything & Controls Everything
   1. Despite what you might think, He’s got all the control. We think we have control because God allows us free will to either make the choice to surrender to Him in faith & trust, or to get in our own ways and struggle a bit more. 
   2. Jeremiah 29:11, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’”

Transcript

0:03

This is the Real Positive Girl podcast and I am your host Sabrina. And you know, as always, we are here chatting about mental health mindset, how to become more vulnerable, more self-aware, and to be more honest with yourself while also, you know, using the Bible and what we know about God to help us like really get in tune with how we can become our best selves. And so we do that two times. I'll be curious if you're new, welcome in. I'm so glad that you were able to find this show and I hope that it's super beneficial to you this episode. Also, any other episodes you decide to go listen to in the archives, uh, that I've already been out, um, or maybe even some of the video versions of the podcast, I hope that you find it so helpful and that you do continue to come back and want to watch and listen more. And if you are not new here, you know the drill. So thank you so much for coming back and continuing to listen and find some sort of help or appreciation in this show. Like genuinely it just makes my heart so happy that I am able to help people in some sort of way. Like that's all I wanna do. I'm definitely not here to like, you know, um, glorify myself at all. Uh, I feel like I kind of was when I didn't mention like tie in like scripture and what God calls us to do as much. Um, but I'm so glad that God is able to just like really, you know, tighten up and straighten up my past. So I am here to first and foremost glorify him and then help you guys in any way I can with him working through me. So today we're gonna talk about something very important. Um, I feel like most topics I talk about are very important, but this one I feel like really hits home for a lot of people. And today's episode is titled He Knows Best Letting Go Of Control, um, because I know that a lot of us struggle with control issues. I know that I did for the longest time and sometimes still do. But before we dive into that, I just want you to take a quick peek down into the show notes where you can see how you can come and find me on social media and say, hi, I'm at Sabrina Joy Perso. I'm both TikTok and Instagram. So come by and say hi if you have time, like send me a message, let's communicate, let's create like, you know, like a friendship and a community online. Also, if you look down on the show notes, you can see the link to the YouTube channel where I do have some of the video versions of the podcast already posted, slowly but surely uploading more and more. So I hope that you enjoy what's currently up there and look forward to what's coming, um, you know, in the next few months. And then you can also see where you can send me an email or you can, uh, vent anonymously to me if you need to just get some stuff off your chest if you don't have someone in your life that's emotionally available to um, vent, allow you to vent to. And there's also a link to I think so many other things. Just check it all out when you have an opportunity. But I do wanna just get into the episode so that you um, actually get the topic and the knowledge that you actually came here to receive. So let's. Go ahead and chat about he knows best letting go of control. So I myself personally have a history of control issues. I lived life driven by like a ton of anxiety and worry and trauma responses. Like that's literally how I lived And so I had what I saw as a need. I had this like desperate need to control everything so that I didn't endure more pain than I had to because growing up I did endure so much pain that you know, you get to a point where you're like, okay, we need to figure out a way to minimize this. Kinda like reign it in so we are not experiencing so much. And so I just wanted to protect myself. And so from a young age I wanted to have control over what I could have control over. And so in my childhood, I would say all the way from like being a young babe and then through high school probably I did believe in God. Like I remember that there was uh, a friend that my dad knew uh, that would take me to church across town. And so there was one time after church and they were parked outside my house. They like led me to Jesus and I and I, you know, I got saved and get my life and it was great. And then I remember when I was 10 getting baptized and that was a big deal. So growing up I did believe in God and, and I do believe that he was in my life. He was like keeping me safe from so many other things that could have been way worse. Even like even then and now I can definitely recognize the fact that I definitely was kept to be safe, um, a little bit more even than some of my siblings were unfortunately. And I just know that God had a hand in my life and so I did believe in him and, and what he could do. Um, but I didn't fully believe that he could, you know, helped me with my circumstances because my life was pretty rough. So it's like yeah, I saw that he did prevent me from having even worse circumstances than other people in my life, but it felt like the things that I wasn't going through immediately it's like, well why isn't God working on that? Why isn't he like doing something about this? And so it kind of felt like, okay, well maybe my problems just aren't um, important enough for God. So I guess I'll just have to take this into my own hands until he feels like it's important enough to intervene, which is really sad way to live your life and think about it, you know, in hindsight it's like, oh my gosh, I kind of wish that I just had like deeper, stronger faith and belief that he could, uh, definitely that he was already working my life and he was already preventing me from going through even worse things and how if I leaned more into him that I probably would've had more peace and comfort in growing up. But you know, I definitely learned a lot and I definitely was kept safe from again, so many worse things. And you know, really I I gained more trust into God in God when I was in high school I would say. Cause I really started going to youth group a lot and over time, like by the time that I graduated high school, I was very, I would say actually overzealous by that point, uh, that when I actually went to Christian, like a Christian college, like a, a bible, bible college slash regular university cuz that was the year, the year that I I first attended was when they trans transitioned over to being like a regular four year university. Um, and so it was like both. So I took bible classes that was required but also took regular classes required for my uh, psychology degree. And anyway, so, but yeah, I was like in high school where I finally was like, okay, like God can do so many things that this is what the Bible says, this is what they're preaching all the time. This is what I'm gonna believe, right? Cuz I started going to like youth group a lot. I went to a youth conference all the way in Seattle and um, if you are new here, like I am originally from Ingrid, Alaska. So going from home Alaska to down to Washington where I currently live now and going to a youth conference, I was like a really, really big deal. And so it felt very life changing, life affirming and I, and then I eventually was like filled with the Holy Spirit and can speak in tongues at church and everything. So you know, I felt very like, okay, God is like in my life and he's doing any doing things, but I still needed to feel like I had the control. I still felt like I needed the control in my life. And by that point, to be honest with you, I thought that the control that I wanted in my life was fine as long as I was doing everything else correctly to be a Christian to be honest. I was just like, okay, well I'm gonna be in control of these things and God's gonna intervene when he wants to or he feels like he needs to and that's how we're working together. That's like how my mind thought because I also didn't really have people in my life that were on the regular like uh, flowing in and like being like a a, a mentor or someone to kinda like straighten that thinking out. Like I went to youth group like I said and I had some connections with like the youth pastor and uh, even the worship pastor and the pastor, the lead pastor's wife and things like that. But it wasn't this like free flowing of like people actually being integrated into my life and like small groups and things like that. Like it is kind of like today. And so I still had that thinking. I was like, okay, well I can still be in control of all of this and then God will just do what he needs to do. And so I honestly didn't start fully letting go of control in my life until just a few years ago to be honest, right? And so you're probably like, oh my gosh, you went like however many like 30 some years, my whole like the mo majority of my life thinking that it's okay to want to control things in my life. And yes, I would tell you yes without feeling any sort of shame or guilt. Um, I guess I'm a little disappointed that I went that long, but this is where I am and this is how it was meant to be. And so yeah, it wasn't until recently, like in the last few years that I was like, okay, I just need to like hand it all over to God because he knows what to do better than I do. This is very clear. And so I just was like, okay, God, you, you can do, you can do this. Like you can do what you need to do with my life. And it was like a slow release of like, okay, God's gonna be with us, God's gonna do things like and you know, still struggles happened, still bad things happened and um, it was like okay, that really sucks but God is gonna work in in some way in this thing. And I would not say that I had that perfect faith by any means. Like I said, it was like a slower release. I feel like now I'm like okay, like God, you're gonna do whatever. Yes this might suck right now, but I know that you're working in this in some way and I'm just going to accept it. I'm just going to be here. I'm just going to continue to serve you and uh, have peace in you and joy and just continue to push through despite what's happening. And it feels so freeing I will tell you that. So again, it is kind of disappointing that it took so many years for me to get to this point, but uh, I'm glad that I'm here now and that's really all that matters. And so if you feel like you're at a place where you're like, oh my gosh, too many years have gone by for me to actually experience the freedom of surrendering everything to God, it is not too late for you. I absolutely promise you can just go ahead and just let it all go and and release it all to him if you allow yourself too, right? And so I know that we all have our own story of dealing with being a control freak, having control issues, you know, how and why you struggled with control. Um, because all of us do at like different like varying degrees. Like you might be like me where you like, like I would say like top tier control freak, but maybe, maybe you are more in the middle or maybe you're more on the, not so much but you kind of feel like you do clutch things a little bit, especially when you're dealing with stress and, and worry and overwhelm, whatever like degree you are. It's just important that we recognize that we are going through this struggle and that we need to figure out what we, what we need to do about it. We don't wanna stay in this kind of mindset of thinking that we need to control everything. So it's, I do wanna start off with saying that it sounds good to be in control, right? It sounds like it should be a thing that's accepted, something that we should all be okay with. Like oh yeah, it's okay to be in control. It sounds like a good thing you, you are making sure everything is going well when you're in control, like everything that's going on around you and you're doing your best to help other people and kind of wanting to be in control of what they're doing. Cuz you just want them to become their best self, right? And making sure that you are controlling yourself because you know, people talk about how important it is to have self-control and so you're like, okay, well I need to control myself like to the utmost. So so control must be a good thing, right? With all of these different things, right? You're telling yourself yes it has to be good, right? It's really not though. It's really not. Like if you take a very big step back and widen your perspective as wide as it can be, you'll realize that wanting control is actually like a fallacy because you can't really control anything outside of yourself. You just can't. And so you, you think you can't cuz you're so zoomed in on what's going on in your life, but in all reality you can only control like physically and mentally yourself. Like that is it. And you know, it is really important for us to control ourselves like I believe like self-control, it's one of the fruits of the spirit, right? So self-control is a very, very important thing. But you can't use that as your excuse for like, well I have to control myself, which means I also need to control what's around me, which is means I also need to extend that control to other people in my life. No, it just stops there like at you like self-control. And the reason why that's an accepted one is because it's just about you. Like it's about what choices and what behaviors and what attitudes you have. That's why self-control is a good thing because you do want to control the attitude and the mindset and the things and the actions that you take and what you say to other people. Especially if you are trying to be a light in the world and draw more people to God in Christ, you really gotta be on top of like what you're saying, what you're believing, what you're putting out in the world. So self-control is definitely like, you know, fantastic, we need to be doing that for sure. But we can't control any of the other things. Not even if we think we can not even if we, you would say like Sabrina, no I've done a really good job of controlling everything you really haven't. You really haven't. And if you think you have, you're really playing into the fantasy, you're playing into the fallacy and you are creating this like false narrative to yourself that you have control. You know, we think we can control everything around us and that's actually like one of the biggest reasons how we can get ourselves in trouble with having this belief system. You know, you push and push and push for things to happen. Like think of any sort of experience that you've had where you were just like, you're like oh my gosh, I know this is gonna happen for me, I just need to do this. And don't those sound like two different things when you're like, I know this is going to happen for me but I need you force all of this crap to happen for it to happen for me, right? Those things don't feel like they go together. You're one of them is like you're forcing it to happen. You are doing everything you can to fit this like square piece into a circle hole on the other end. You're like, but it's just meant for me Like it's just to go supposed to like flow in and be swimmingly and be absolutely amazing. No, no it's, we just get ourselves, we just like force, we try to force so many things to happen and then we tell ourselves it's worth it at the end if we end up getting what we think we wanted. And sometimes you may not admit this to anyone else, but you can at least admit to yourself that after all of that forcing and pushing and making things happen and then it happens, there's bound to be times where you're like, oh my gosh this was not worth it<laugh>, this was not worth it. Right? And that's a bigger part of understanding why we need to let go and surrender control to God because he knows what should happen. He knows how to really like move things around and make decisions and know what would work out best. We think we know how everything should work, but we really don't. We really don't. Our understanding is like, like the smallest bit in comparison to like what God understands and what he knows and what he is capable of, right? It's so much easier just to rely on God to manage everything for us because he knows what should happen. But you know, you could be worried, which really sucks because worrying and anxiety are like the worst. But you could be really worried that God doesn't know what you want and that's why you wanna have control when he does, he knows everything you're thinking, your feeling what your wants and your desires are, he knows, but maybe you're thinking no but he's just not sure he doesn't know or that it won't happen when you want it to happen. And that's why you feel like you need to take control because if you leave it to him, it might not happen when you want it happen and it might not happen when you want it to happen because he knows the best timing for everything to happen. Which is one of the biggest reasons why we need to let go of control because we think we make something happen by continuing to push and push and shove and shove and force and force when really, you know, think about the fact that maybe we didn't have to do any of that and it was supposed to happen in that time anyway and we could have just had peace and joy and chilled during that time when we were just like putting in all the work and feeling like we're going through the hardest struggle that was probably gonna happen anyway. You know what I mean? But yes, so sometimes we don't wanna give up control because we're like oh God doesn't know that it needs to happen at this time. He knows, he knows, he knows when it needs to happen. He knows the best time that it will happen and that it should happen and that he'll allow it to happen. And you know, you might also think like if you do leave it to him, this is probably the biggest one that you might not admit to a lot of people as to why you feel like you need to have the control and not allow God to have the control over your life is because, well, as embarrassing as it may be, you won't get the credit. If you are telling everyone that God is in control of your life, you surrender everything to him every day, you are allowing him to, you know, lead your life and make the decisions and guide you where you need to go, then you can't tell people that it was you, right? I mean you could still tell people it's you. It's not true <laugh>, it's never true. But some people just get so caught up in their pride and their ego and they need to tell people that it was them. You know, they need to have all of that love, attention and affection. They are living for the world and not for God at that point once that like you'll know whether you are living for God or you're living for the world based upon who you're trying to impress, based on who you are trying to make happy based on who you care about, what, what they're thinking, their feelings and and their opinion of you, right? Because we don't need to worry about the love and acceptance in the opinion that God has from us. We already know what it is. If you just read it in the Bible and you can also pray and ask him and he will tell you, God loves us so much, he has done amazing things to show us that. And he tells us, we just have to surrender our lives to him, lay it all down, you know, deepen our relationship with him, be a light in the world to draw more people to him. Like it's really that easy. It feels difficult because a lot of times we get so caught up in what's happening right now that we want to serve the world because they're giving you that immediate attention, that immediate affection, that immediate just like fulfillment of like, oh my gosh, people love me, I my gosh I'm making all the money. Oh my gosh I can buy all the things. And it's that instant gratification that a lot of us get so caught up in that a lot of us stumble through, including myself. It's that temptation to go after the instant gratification that gets us all caught up in the fact that we think that we're controlling everything and we want to acknowledge that we're controlling everything because it heightens our status. It makes that instant gratification inquiries even more. You know what I mean? And so that is like, so with wanting to tell everyone that it's you and feeling like God won't have the right timing and feeling like God doesn't know what you want or won't do the right things. These are just some of the like excuses that people use for why they feel like they need to be in control, right? And it's tough because all God wants to do is provide for you and love you and bless you with the best as long as we just align with his will and not serve the world. We need to be a light in the world. We need to be set apart. You know, we need to be drawing people in, not trying to blend in with the rest of them. That should not be the goal. So there's a lot happening, there's a lot that we talked about. Let's go ahead and still like re zero back in to focusing on why we need to let go of the control of our lives and you know, let go of like what we think we're controlling because despite what we like might think, we're not really controlling anything we think we are. And yes, God's given us free will. So you know, we might be like taking a different turn here or there that's really just like getting in our own way. But I do wanna just give you some thoughts on why we need to let go of the control that we think we have and what it would look like to just like surrender it to God because he's really the one in control anyway and surrendering to him will make everything easier and just more aligned with his will and again, less getting in our own way. Um, so before we do that though, let's jump into the quick disclaimer as per usual. Uh, so all the tips and advice and knowledge that I've already provided and that I'm going to provide in this episode is all based on my own knowledge and research and experience and the experiences of others that I'm able to share. If you find that you just don't feel like this aligns with you, this episode aligns with you with better understanding how we need to allow God to have control in our life and surrender to him and let go of our control issues, then I do encourage you to seek someone that you trust. Maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a mentor, maybe it's someone at church or maybe it's even a therapist or a counselor. I see one every single week where you can just have this discussion with them and figure out what would better align with you and better understanding like why it's important to surrender control to God. Um, if you don't wanna do that, I do encourage you to just hop on our best friend, which is Google and just type in like type in like how to surrender control to God, type in like, um, how to no longer be a control freak according to the hone in on those blog posts or other podcasts or videos or um, anything else social posts that will kind of help you, you know, align with what fits for your mindset right now. Um, because it's okay if it just like the message that I'm sharing just doesn't hit with you right now, I hope you do find something that will hit um, what you need to hear to help you better, like align with a surrendering control to God. Okay? So I wanna share with you five reasons, five big reasons why we need to let go of all the ideas of control and surrender our lives to God. So let's go number one, we don't know anything <laugh>. That is the number one reason. These aren't necessarily in like a specific order, but I do feel like this is like the number one, well the number one reason actually is number five, but this is probably the number two reason why we need to surrender control to God because we don't know anything. We think we know a lot of things. You know, as humans we are very overconfident, we're very cocky. We don't know, we don't know, we, we don't know everything, right? The understanding that we have about the world is so limited, so limited in comparison to what God knows, right? It's just, it's nuts. We don't know as much as we think and often the things that we think we know end up just being assumptions, you know, or based on what someone else is doing, right? And so we think we know how everything's gonna go because it's worked out that way in the past or we just assume it's gonna work out this specific way, whatever it is. But there are literally, this might sound like really like a bummer, but there is no guarantee that what we know right now will actually end up being true, like moments from now, right? Things could change because again, a lot of our knowledge comes from, you know, um, basing it on what someone else is gonna do and trusting what another human being on this earth where we're all like, you know, trying not to fall into our pits of despair, our pits of sin all the time. And so what you know, to be true right now could change in an instant. In an instant. And so that's why we don't know everything. We don't know what's going to happen two minutes from now, okay? And so there are no guarantees what we know to be true except for what God has told us and his word. So God knows what's going to happen, what has already happened, what's going to happen in the next moment. And so it's better just to allow the person that has all the knowledge and all the wisdom and everything to manage our lives, to control everything that's happening. It just sounds, it, it sounds like the easy way out and it's the best way out and it's the most preferred way <laugh>, uh, it's, it's, it's the uh, suggested way per the Bible just allow God to do it. He knows what he's doing right? And it is also a symbol of trust and faith, which we're gonna get to in a second. That we surrender our whole lives to him and allow him to control it and just go along with the path and the journey that he provides. And that's what we need to do to really have that real deep relationship, that real deep connection, that real deep faith and trust and knowing that he is almighty God And he's got it covered in the book of Proverbs chapter three, verse five through six. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do and he will show you which path to take. So I do wanna highlight the fact that like I feel like a lot of times when we read scripture it's very easy to leave out the part where it says like has to align with his will. We need to seek his will, we need to align with his will because we immediately are just like, yeah, if we trust in the Lord and don't depend on us, then he will tell us what to do. He will provide us with what we want, blah blah blah car blanche. But it's not really like that. We have to align with his will. And if we don't know what that is, we need to ask him to reveal that to us. And then the actions and the behaviors and whatever else comes with what we believe God is sending to us, we need to step out in faith and take action on those things. And then if they are not correct, he will turn us. He will take us in the direction that we need to go. And so that's one of the other big things. It's like yes we need to trust and surrender everything to God and if we believe that we've, like God is telling us to do a certain thing, we need to step out in faith and take action and actually do it. But then if he's like, okay, you had a good start but let's turn it this way. We need to also be ready and willing to be flexible in where he's taking us on that journey because maybe we took, took the first few steps in the correct way, but then we kind of went off course and he's like, no, no, no, it's actually this way and it's this way and it's up and it's down and it's all around. And so that's so important. I know that's not specifically what we're talking about today, but it's so important. I try to mention it as much as I can because everything we do, everything we're seeking after everything we want needs to align with his will. We need to be seeking his will and the things that we're asking from him. So we don't know everything. He knows everything. That's why we should surrender control to him. Number two, feeling anxious and worried is not fun. It's not fun. You know, wouldn't it be nice if we like just didn't have to worry anymore? I laughed because I know that at least myself, you know, I mean we all are, are struggling with temptations that come up to us and uh, maybe old sin that we have dabbled in that is still there like tempting us and prompting us to lean back into it because it's the easy way out. It's the way that we know to deal with things, right? The way we know how to live our life. And so for me, I do struggle to like fall into worry because it's such an old habit that I was so encompassed. It's like so like it's so integrated in my life it, it felt like it was part of like the identity that I held for so many years in my life. And so when I think about the fact that like I don't need to worry, it feels so nice and at peace and I have experienced that a lot lately and when I do, when the worry does start to like creep up cuz it will creep up a little bit, I'm just like, no, why am I worrying? And then I like acknowledge it to God right away. God why am I worrying? I don't wanna worry. It's unnecessary. I know you got this. Let me resist the temptation to worry. What could I do instead? Let's throw some worship music on let's, you know, do a bible devotional. Let's study a certain passage that was I had written down to study later. Like let's do something else. Because worrying is like not fruitful at all. If anything it's really like taken away. Like any fruit, any piece, anything that you have inside, it's literally coming And so, you know, the only reason we may think that we can't trust God is because you know what? We wait, hold on. I am jumping the gun. I'm sorry. We're gonna, we're gonna come back into, we're gonna talk, talk about trust here in just a second. I'm sorry I jumped the gun. I was like yeah worry and then trust. No, we'll come to that in just a second. So it would be really nice if we could just give up worry and just allow God to like just take it over, you know? And that's what can happen for the most part. If we, and for the most part I mean like you know, we have to still be able to like resist the temptation to wanna fall back into worry. But if we allow God to handle everything in our lives, you know, we can instead enjoy the peace joy that comes with not being burdened with these trivial and traumatic things that happen in our life. You know? And even if we're worried a little bit cuz it's just like it feels like it's bubbling up in us, we can immediately just like hand it over to God and be like God please take this from me. Please help me with this thing. Please no, don't allow this to like burden me. I'd rather be, you know, like burdened with your light burden of wanting to uh, be a light in this world and do as you tell me to do and live my life according to your principles and your ways to draw more people in, right? That is the light burden that we want. We don't wanna deal with all this trauma and all this junk that is just gonna be there to weigh us down. And so the trust that we can have and God to make sure everything just like goes as it should according to his well is well worth not knowing like what's gonna happen next or like needing to worry and consider every little thing just for the sake of being in control. It is so worth it just to like let the worry go and just be like, let's just live it for right now because we are not brahmas tomorrow and it's better just to bask in the joy and the peace that we have today. So, you know, feeling anxious and worried is not fun. So what better way to you know, let it go is just like give it to God and truly just give it to him every single time. And I know it can be like a habit, it's a really hard habit to break because we do get into the habit. Like I said earlier, maybe you do, I like use it. It's like a, a chunk of like your identity, how you see yourself, how you feel like you're like all the characteristics like that make you up. Like worry and anxiety are a part of it but they don't need to be a part of it. They don't need to be, they can just be gone and you'll still, you'll be even more whole. It's like as if they're taking up a spot where actually more peace and joy was actually intended to go. Okay so number three, now we're talking about trust. I jumped the gun before but here we go. So we should be trusting God with everything that is like one of the top reasons. Of course all five of these are the top reasons but it's such a good reason to reflect on for why we should give up control to God is because we were supposed to be trusting him, right? When we give our life to him and we are like okay, I do wanna have a relationship with you. I wanna go below surface level Christianity, I want to be a light in this world for you, right? I wanna align with your will. You have to trust him. Like there is no relationship that can survive without trust. And if you don't believe me, I want you to reflect on relationships you had in the past that didn't work out. And you can't tell me that one of the main things wasn't trust. You can't, it's so integral, which is why it's so integral with our relationship with God. We have to trust him, right? You know because like he's trusting us to like do the right things and often we don't and then we have to repent and get our lives together. But we need to trust him, trust that he's got it all taken care of. He is our heavenly father and we should trust him as he is like that cuz that is who he is, okay? God of the universe, why are we not trusting him as in who he is, right? Especially we know and we believe and we know that's who he is. Why are we not trusting him as he is? You know, the only reason we may think we can't trust God is because what we wanted didn't happen. And that's what I almost went into earlier. Cause it's like ah, it's such a big thing for the reason why we are so like repellent to trusting God is because, you know, we were like okay we trust God. God can you make this thing happen? It doesn't happen And then we're immediately like wore out <laugh>. We can't trust God because we wanted this thing and it didn't happen. But you know, it's because we aren't allowing ourselves to have that bigger picture, to take a step back, take a step back in our perspective and widen it up and be like, oh the reason why this didn't not work out is because if it did, it would've caused all this other chaos or I wouldn't have been able to do this other really big thing that's coming up and that's what I'm meant to do. That's where I'm meant to go. That is the path to the dreams and the goals and the whatevers that I have, right? But we get so focused on what's right in front of us that we like almost, it's almost impossible for us to take a step back and really evaluate, oh there are so many other things in this big picture. It's like trying to fit a puzzle piece into a puzzle but you're so focused on the middle of the puzzle and you don't realize that there are empty spots to try around the border but you didn't allow yourself to like look at the whole entire picture. You know what I mean? So what we often think is perfect, a perfect choice, maybe a perfect choice in like a like a, a spouse, a perfect choice and a job perfect choice in where we should live, a perfect choice in what we should invest our money in a perfect choice in our friends church, whatever we think that we've made the perfect choice or that would be the perfect choice and like we make it and then it falls apart. Or we never get to actually doing that thing that we want. We think that we know how to make decisions for ourselves and often if we connect and ask God and we have him working through us, he will help us make the right decisions. But if we are not and we're like, oh no, I got this God I don't need you, then often you're not gonna make the right decision unless God is gonna still like you know, God is always working in our lives even times when we turn away. But it's so much easier for him to work in our lives when we're fully looking at him and giving him everything and having that full trust that he is gonna come through every single time. Even if it is not exactly how we thought it should be. Because again, back to number one, we don't know anything. We don't know everything. There's so little that we actually know. It's like compared to his like ah, you know, you know what I mean? So we just need to instill our faith in him because he has our best interests in mind. And if you don't believe me or you have trouble believing that right now, you're like, I kind of believe it but I don't, I want you to reflect on a time you were glad that it worked out differently than you had originally planned, then you had originally hoped. I want you to reflect on that cuz there's gonna be a time where you're like, oh yeah, I'm glad that didn't happen that way. Yeah cuz God knew that it should not have happened that way. He knew, he knew he cause he knows everything. He knows everything. So we need to acknowledge that we need to trust God with everything. Number four, it's never us anyway. It's never us anyway. So everything that happens in life is because of God. That's a fact. It's not an opinion, it's a fact truth. Everything we think it's our own abilities, which is just our f our ego and our, you know our pride talking. We think it's our own abilities but it's not, it's really not. God is orchestrating the whole thing. He's doing it all. And the sooner that we recognize this, the easier it will be to surrender everything to God to control everything or try to control everything. Because we're not really controlling everything. It's never us, it's never us anyway. We think it's us but the moment that we surrender it all to God and we're like God please you, you can do it all. I don't wanna do it all. I just wanna do what you want me to do. I want to serve you. I wanna be peace and joy and a light in this world. I wanna serve you and everything. I wanna be a good example. I wanna continue to be more and more like Jesus every day. That's what I wanna do. I don't wanna deal with the problems. And he's gonna give you strength and faith and everything, truth and everything you need to get through those problems to the other side and you'll be able to shout his glory to the mountaintops and you'll, that will be such a great testimony to his amazing work and strength and comfort and faith to us that yeah we just, it just, we just need to like tell our ego to be quiet and shut up and and not have to worry about the fact that we don't need to claim that it was us. It wasn't us. It was always God. It's always God doing all the things. All of the things right? And you're probably like, well Sabrina, but we have free will and this, that and the other. Yes. Okay, sure. Yes he does. He has given us free will to make those choices so that we can demonstrate the fact that we actually like trust him and have faith in him and believe that he is going to do what he says and we have the ability like he is waiting for us to surrender it all to him because that's a demonstration of our faith and trust in him. And that is like the basis of like a real relationship, right? Which is what I want and which is what we all should want and that's what he wants from us. And so you know when you're out there and you're like no I'm just gonna do my own thing, I'm gonna have my free will. Sure you're making choices that are your choices and he will let you run amuck a little bit cuz you're gonna get in your own way. But you know, if you decide to get too close to the sun, he'll pull you back. I mean you might get burned a little bit because you allowed you like you allowed yourself to get into that trouble because you didn't wanna do what God told you and you didn't wanna surrender it to him. But he'll still help you, he'll still keep you safe. You might get burned a little bit cuz uh, you know you did it to yourself but you'll bring your back and be like, okay let's try this again. Do you wanna change your mind? And a lot of times it takes us a long time before we wanna change our mind before we work. Okay, God yes please take it all. But no because we sometimes we just get such a big head that we're like no, we can do this, I can do it. And then you'll come to like your last burn, your last trip too close to the sun and you'll be like okay, but really you could have been like handing it over, handing it all over to him sooner. Sooner than like allowing yourself just to continue to get in your own way. And sometimes God will make decisions where he'll suddenly just be like, Nope, we're done with this. Like we have a plan, you got things to do, you need to get your life right and he'll like turn you around a lot quicker. But that's just like, you know, it's whatever God's will and whatever his decision is to make. So sure you could try to go out there and do all these things you think it's in your own volition and whatever. You're really just like causing trouble for yourself <laugh> and your life will be so much better. Maybe not easier, you'll still endure or struggle, but it'll be better if you just surrender it all to him sooner than later and stop needing the instant fulfillment, that instant gratification from the world, serving the world to just be able to tell them that you did it when you didn't. Cuz anything that's like the glory that you think is from you is really from God. You're just not acknowledging the actual like source of where all that's coming from really like kind of plagiarizing, right? You're like this is mine but really it's not. It's not. It's so easy for our pride to get in the way and think that we're orchestrating everything but we aren't, you know? And why would we wanna make it easier on God and just like align with like his will, it just makes it so much easier for him to bless us and just like allow our life to like flow and go and, and continue to reach new heights and deeper depths with him. You know, I like to, I made a note in my notes just wanting to share that like the only thing that we're really in control of is how stubborn we choose to pee <laugh> and we really should just get over that. Okay, so it's never us. So let me read to you in Proverbs chapter 16 verse nine, it says we can make our plans but the Lord determines our ways so we can plan all the things in the entire world and have like this big 10 20 year plan that we have for our lives. And it doesn't mean it's gonna turn out. I had a plan for my life ever since I was like nine or 10 years old. I was, I told myself I was gonna be a child psychologist. That was my goal. 10 years old, not kidding. And uh, went to school, enrolled in the classes, spent the money. That's not what I'm doing now. I didn't even get to my master's and my whole goal was to get to my doctorate and uh, become a therapist and I didn't. But it's okay. It's like there was a time where I was fighting that and I was like, oh come on. That was the goal. It sounds like a really good thing. It sounds like it's a great thing to be. I'm not hurting anyone. You know, we get caught, caught up in thinking that like since we feel like we're being a good person, even though we're not like fully serving the Lord, but we feel like we're just being a good person, we're being kind and, and whatevers, even if we're tithing too, we're just not putting everything together. We're like okay, well why that was a good choice. That's like, that's not where God was taking you. It's like yeah, part of your plan was to like go to that school and meet those people and meet my husband, but it wasn't to get to get that degree and it wasn't to continue on that path. The plan was different. So we can make all the plans that we want but you know, God is gonna determine what steps and what journey that we're actually on Before we go into number five. I did not get to read to you the other scripture is because I was talking way too much. So let's pop those in really quick because they're really helpful and you'll see them down in the show notes so you can look them up and study them on your own time. Um, but in first Peter chapter five verse seven, it says Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about you. So that's in regard to like just feeling anxious and worrying is no fun in how we should just allow God to carry the burdens, those burdens for us because he wants you to give all your worries and cares to him because he does care for us and he wants to take care of us and that is not the burden that he wants us to bear. And then in the book of Romans chapter eight verse 28, it says, and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. So God will have everything work together. And often when I am in like a struggle or a storm or something that's really rough in life, I'm like, it's okay. God is gonna work this together for his glory and it's gonna align with his will and it already is. And it's just like I just need to continue to have faith and strength and draw all of that from him to continue to push through and move forward. And it comforts me a lot. And I think that if you find those scriptures, a lot of them are so comforting and they're remind you that God is in control, especially if we are surrendering everything to him He's in control. He'll keep you safe. You just have to continue to have faith and push through and do what he says and align with his will and just connect with him, talk to him, pray with him, do all the things he's there for you. Okay, so the last one that I wanna share with you is the obvious one. I think God knows everything and controls everything. So this kind of like aligns with the one before where it says it's, it's never us anyway. God knows everything and he controls everything anyway. So in case you thought that you were in control, you're not, you never were. Yes, you may have made some choices here or there for free. Well well whatever, but those were not like, like you made those little mini things but you're not really like controlling anything. You're just kind of like, you know, taking up time, getting in your own way. So despite what you might think, he's got it all on control. He can do a way better job than us. And I'm sure if you like take a step back and surrender control to him, you'll be able to see an instant example of that comparison to what was happening before and what's happening now. It's so good. He's got it all under control. We think we have control because of God again allows his free will to make choices. But we need to make the ultimate choice, which is to surrender it all to him and faith and trust and just get out of our own way. And God has the most perfect knowledge and wisdom and understanding of everything. It's incredible And we can ask God for wisdom and he will grant us wisdom and understanding and knowledge and things like that. But it's never gonna compare to what he has. It never will. Cuz he's the God of the universe. He is the heavenly Father. Okay? So if we make the decision to let go of control and acknowledge that he knows what's best for us, life will be so much better, so much sweeter. And again, that doesn't mean we're not gonna encounter struggle problems, sadness, disappointment, anything like that. But by leaning into him, he will help us get through all of those things. And it'll be so much easier to get through those things because you're relying on him. Cuz he can do it all. He can handle it all. He can hold that burden and help us get through. The last verse I wanna share with you is a very popular verse, but it's very fitting. Jeremiah 29 11, you know what, you could just recite it with me for. I know all the plans I have for you, says the Lord. There are plans for good and not for disaster to give you all future and a hope. Now different, you know, uh, versions will say different ways, uh, for I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. There are plans for you to prosper and have no an experience so evil, you know, to give you a hope in the future. Whatever, like, you know, um, version, uh, text, uh, what am I thinking of? What's the actual word? Why am I, uh, you know what I mean? So whether it's like the, the, um, translation, whatever translation, it's all the same. He knows the plans, he has plans for us. He made a plan for us before we even, like were here on this earth, you know, he made a plan for us and they're good plans and they're not bad things. We might go through struggles, but those promote strength and more reliance on him, which is great. And we are gonna have an amazing future and hope and so many things to come and even more hope in him. And we just need to rely on him, surrender to him, give all control that we are pretending that we have to him and life will be sweeter, be better. It'll be serving him, which is what we're here to do, which is what we're here to do. Okay, well that's all, that's all I have to share with you guys. I'm so glad that you're here to listen and hear this and I hope that it was helpful and I hope that you share it with someone else that could also benefit, benefit from it. But thank you so much for listening and downloading and sharing the Real Positive Girl podcast again with me, Sabrina. Check the show notes below, come say hi to me on social media and I look forward to hearing from you guys soon. But until next time, have a good one and I'll see y'all later. Bye friends.