For a FREE copy of my eBook 10 Priceless Gifts that Don't Cost a Dime for Each PURSE-onality, head on over and "Like" my Facebook page!
Although we just wrapped up October's "A Holiday-Ready Heart" Challenge, any day can be Day 1! You'll find links to all the blog/vlog post here: "Why Expectations are Always an EpicFail."
During November and December, I'll be studying hope. I'll be sharing what I learn here, in a series called "Hope for the Holidays and Everydays".
This week, I'm giving away a copy of Karen Ehman's new book LET. IT. GO.: How to Stop Running the Show and Start Walking in Faith.
(If you're a parent, check out "Raising Kids to be Independent Adults: How to LET. THEM. GO." over at The M.O.M. Initiative!)
Bee-bee-bee-bee-beep!”
This is the 5th time the timer has gone off.
The 5th time I’ve gotten up from my comfy chair in the living room to traipse into the kitchen to finally take the quiche out of the oven.
Except each time, it hasn’t been quite done. So I’ve set the timer for 2 more minutes.
Of course, I can’t just stand there, wasting two whole minutes. So I’ve come back to the living room just long enough to start a sentence, when...
Bee-bee-bee-bee-beep!”
The sound that can turn an auditory processor like me into a raving lunatic in mere seconds.
So I head into the kitchen yet again, hoping the quiche is done this time.
It Comes With the Territory
Ironically, the sentence I’ve been trying to start for (well over!) 10 minutes is this:
“Hi, my name is Cheri, and I’m a control freak.”
What can I say: I’m a Choleric.
My parents are both Cholerics.
Jus' sayin’ I “come by it honestly” (as my dad puts it)!
Of course, the Choleric’s explicit life goal is CONTROL. And everyone knows she’ll “lose it” if she doesn’t get it.
But each PURSE-onality seeks control in her own way: Sanguines by charm, Melancholies by moods, and Phlegmatics by procrastination. (I’ll elaborate on these over the next couple of weeks!)
As an obvious control freak, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Karen Ehman’s book LET. IT. GO.: How to Stop Running the Show and Start Walking in Faith!
The Devil’s “Con-” Job
I started reading it this weekend and was struck by Karen’s juxtaposition of “conscientious” and “controlling”:
“There exists a minuscule line between being conscientious and being controlling. A marker so fine, we women cross it without even noticing that it’s stretched out right there in front of us, waiting to trip us up.”
What starts out as con-cern...
...morphs into con-trol...
...which, unchecked, becomes con-tempt.
Has the devil done a “con-” job on us women, or what?
Show me your ways, O LORD
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Psalm 25:4-5
[emphasis mine]
For the next couple of weeks, I'll be blogging my way through LET. IT. GO.
This humorous, yet spiritually practical book will help us learn how to control what we should, trust God with what we can’t, and more importantly, decide which one is which!
- Draw the line between mothering and micromanaging
- Influence our husbands instead of manipulating them
- Take control of our schedule yet welcome interruptions from God
- Learn to control our emotions when we can’t control the circumstances
- Stop pursuing the appearance of perfection and start pursuing the person of God
Your Turn:
- In what area of your life do you have the greatest struggle over control?
- What overly-controlling thing would you go back and not do, if you could?
- Anything else on your heart!
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