Give it to the Big Guy

I've been pretty stressed out lately. My home church is hosting an outdoor concert event (Rivercity Faith Fest) for American Baptist Youth for the areas surrounding Evansville. This event has been in the works for quite some time. We've got a big-ish name band coming to play, and several churches have registered for their youth groups to come out. This could be a great opportunity to share the love of Christ with those in our neighborhood, as well as with those from farther away.

So why does this stress me out?

Well... I'm kind of in a band. My brother, my cousin and I have been playing worship music together since we were just learning to play our instruments in elementary school. We've gotten pretty decent, actually! And, well, we are the worship band that is going to be leading the whole group in praise songs right before the main band plays. So what's the problem? Well, there's a possibility that my brother can't get off work the day of the festival. That takes out our guitarist and lead vocals and leaves us with nothing but piano and drums. Lame is what that is. My cousin and I thought of a couple people who would do a fantastic job of filling in for him, but none of those people are available either. AND on top of that, another band that is supposed to be playing that day has not confirmed that they will be there, so we potentially will be playing TWICE during the day with only 2/3 of our band. This is not cool.

So, I've been stewing and stewing and thinking and planning and trying my darnedest to come up with a way to make this all better and work out! But it took a few words from my boyfriend to make me realize that I can't handle this situation. He said, "Give it to the Big Guy."

Oh, how we often forget in our lives that GOD is in control. Not us. We, as humans can DO all we want, but ultimately, if we leave all our troubles at God's faithful feet, He'll always take care of us. It's so nice to have a God that cares about His people. A God who is loving and forgiving. Even when we try to take matters into our own hands, and do things the way WE think they ought to be done, God is there to say, "It's ok. I knew you'd do that. I made you! I'm just glad you remembered that you can trust Me."

Trusting and obeying was the topic of the sermon at my Bloomington church last Sunday. That's a hard thing to do. Trusting God is one thing, but then to OBEY His commands and His guidance is even harder.

I'll leave this posting with this: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Even in the stressful times, when it looks like there's no hope and things are overwhelming, find joy. Give thanks. Turn your requests and burdens over to the God of the Universe who loves you and created you and made a new life for you, and He'll never lead you the wrong way. :-D