Accepting Helplessness
Theme of the Week: Whose Will Be Done?
Tom Petersen
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, "You are my God" Psalm 31:14). Bonus Reading: Psalm 31:9-20
Hearing my pregnant wife's cancer diagnosis taught me what it meant to pray, "Your will, not mine." As much as I wanted Cathy's health restored and a healthy baby, I knew there was nothing I could do to affect the outcome. Accustomed to forcing outcomes at work and at home, here I was truly powerless. It frustrated me, but, at the same time, offered an unexpected peace. For once in my life, I had to place it all in God's hands. I had no alternative; there was nothing more I could do.
Despite the chaos of having a healthy newborn and a wife drained from weeks of chemo and radiation treatments, I rejoiced as my daughter, Ellen, and Cathy progressed in their growth and recovery. I was ecstatic that, in this case, God's will was to ordain an outcome that matched my own desires.
In the process, He taught me what true obedience felt like. Now, when I face much more trivial instances of wanting my will done, I remember that turning the situation over to God gives a sense of power in the midst of weakness. Sometimes the first step to accepting God's blessings is setting my desires aside to receive them.
—Tom Petersen in Iowa
My Response: How has God responded in my life when I've prayed, "Your will be done," and meant it?
Thought to Apply: The will of God is either a burden we carry or a power which carries us.—CORRIE TEN BOOM (Dutch concentration camp survivor)
Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Lord, help me to accept your "good and pleasing, and perfect" will, even when that runs counter to my natural desires.
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