"He must become greater; I must become less." -John 3:30

Where is your problem? Notice I didn’t ask “What is your problem?” although that is important to. I ask “where” because a lot of times I focus on what my problem is and how bad it is, how it’s affecting me, and I wallow right up in it instead of letting it go. We would bear much more peace if we gave our problems into God’s hand.

I’m learning that often times what I need to do is surrender. If I don’t know if something is right or wrong, I need to offer my desire, worry, ect. to the Lord, and He will do with it what He wants. On the 31, I wanted to go to a Halloween party with my cousin but something didn’t feel right about it. I was worried and upset because I really wanted to go and didn’t understand why I was feeling I shouldn’t. There was nothing bad at the party — I just didn’t feel right. I prayed for peace and a major roadblock to invade the way if I was not supposed to go. God showed me I needed to give it to Him, and He graced me with peace and understanding, and a true freedom I cannot explain.

God is not about being our God when it's convenient for us. He didn't send a piece of His only Son to have a piece of our lives. God sent His whole Son to have all of us. Jesus was willing to sacrifice it all. How much am I willing to sacrifice?

Surrendering our all to God can be really tough and is often our last resort. We drag out our problems and cause ourselves greater stress than if we were to just cease to concern about them. Holding onto our problems longer just increases the level of intensity in letting go. So why do we do it?

“I got dis.” “I can do this.” “I don’t need any help.” “I can solve my own problems.”

Me, myself, and I, right? We are more reliable than a God we cannot see.

Wrong. That kind of mentality gets us in dead ends and let downs. We all know the problem gets bigger because we emphasize its power, and we keep thinking we have the power to control it… we think nothing else can, so we do the best we can to manage it. O, how many times I do this. Being busy just makes it worse! Not that being busy is always bad, but we can be sure it’s not good when we don’t spend time with our awesome God. Along with being busy are those unexpected situations arising into the day and trying to figure out how to fit them in. Saying ‘no’ is okay sometimes, people (*you may not want to say ‘no’ to the professor who puts a last minute assignment on you. Your blogger did NOT tell you that you could tell your teacher no because you have too much on your plate!)

There’s a song — please check it out — called ‘Magnify’ by ‘We Are Messengers’ and it goes so well with this topic. Sometimes it’s really good to evaluate ourselves, really every day, and ask, ‘Where have I put God?’ Number one, number none? Number two and anything after doesn’t matter. We put God number one by telling Him He can have all we have, all we are, for His glory, and then listening and obeying what He wants. If you're saying, "I just can't give all I have up. I'm scared and not ready," God will keep working with you, asking bit by bit. We have to be willing. He understands your every struggle and loves and wants you anyway. You're not alone in your struggle. Reach out.

The more we get to know God, the more we realize we can trust Him. The more we want to trust Him, the more we do trust Him. The power and satisfaction in spending time with God is sacred and well spent.

“Take it all, take it all away, magnify no other name… my sight is incomplete, and I made You look small, I’ve been staring at my problems for way to long. Realign where my hope is set until You’re all that’s left... I don’t need to see everything, just more of You.”

We don’t need all answers to life’s little questions, curiosities. We do need The Answer and Jesus is it. What am I magnifying?