Bible/book study - Let. It. Go. by Karen Ehman, week one

 As I probably mentioned in my last blog post, I am doing an online bible/book study through melissataylor.org.  Melissa Taylor is part of the Proverbs 31 Ministries organization, and I found the bible study through their Facebook page.  The book she has picked for the current bible study is called "Let. It. Go." by Karen Ehman.  It's geared towards women and the control that we have.  Melissa Taylor does the bible study through her blog on her website (which I gave above) and each week, there's at least one chapter to read, along with some thought provoking questions for you to answer and take a look at closer inside yourself.  I know for me, this is a time where it's great to have something like this because I'm kind of in the midst of trying to figure some things out and how to work at getting better at them (control is definitely one of those things!).  If you're at all interested in joining the conversation about the book, join in reading the book with me, answer the questions yourself, or whatever, feel free to comment or get a hold of me.  This post is actually last week's assignments and responses for week one, but I wanted to share my answers and see if I can get some of you to answer them as well.  (Just a side note - Proverbs 31 Ministries is geared for women)


TUESDAY 2/5/13 ASSIGNMENT
READ CHAPTER 1 - WIRED TO CONTROL

YOUR RESPONSE (BLOG COMMENT SECTION)
CHALLENGE #1
WHAT WAS YOUR CONTROL QUOTIENT? (END OF CHAPTER ONE)
    Mine was 42, which is considered a control freak.  Not very surprising though, and I’m not surprised it has come up when a manager called me out a while back saying that others at work said that I was bossy (definitely part of my control side coming out).  It helped me realize what I have always done, along with taking the quiz at the end of chapter one.

CHALLENGE #2
WHAT ARE YOUR STRUGGLES WITH CONTROL?  ARE YOU AN ALL OUT CONTROL FREAK, OR DO YOU, LIKE ME, STRUGGLE WITH LETTING GO AND ALLOWING GOD TO GIVE YOU PEACE IN THE MIDST OF LIFE?  HOW CAN YOU PERSONALLY PRACTICE WALKING IN FAITH?
    I think for me, the biggest struggle with control is just the fact that I want to have control of situations and I don’t know when to just let things go, or let them be.  I want to make sure things get done, I want to make sure I have enough hours at work to pay  for my bills, etc and I don’t always know when to say enough is enough or where the limits might lie.  I think that’s where the bossiness, etc come into play and not being able to let things go the way they are intended to go.  
    I don’t know if it’s possible, but I think I might be a little bit of both - an all out control freak, along with having the struggle to let things go and let God give me peace in my life, as well as determine how things go in my daily life.  I know I need to trust God in how things go, and know that he has a purpose and plan for everything.  It might not be the way that I want it to go (which is probably why I want to control everything), but I have to trust that there is a reason why things go the way that they do, and just let everything fall into place the way God wanted it to go.  I also think that they are very much intertwined with each other - I think we control things in our life, and maybe some more than others, because we struggle with letting things go and allowing God to plan how things go, as well as just going with the flow.
    Personally, I think I can practice walking in faith more by just trusting God and knowing that things happen for a reason.  I also have to trust myself to let things go and believe that God will take care of everything for me.  Surrendering that power of control is a hard thing for me because I want to make sure I get what I want but yet trust that God will take care of it.  Things might happen that I might not like, but I just have to realize that I need help and I can’t control everything that I do.  There might be a time where I have to have some control over what happens or say enough is enough, but really...God is the one that has the ultimate power over that and if there is a time that comes where I have to put my foot down about a situation or something that comes up, maybe it’s just meant to be that way.