Scripture
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)
Sometimes we become so accustomed to carrying something that we stop noticing its weight.
A responsibility.
Someone else's expectations.
A problem we believe we have to solve.
An outcome we are desperately trying to control.
We pray about it, but then pick it straight back up.
We ask God to intervene, but continue carrying the responsibility for how everything must turn out.
There is a difference between being responsible for what God has entrusted to you and assuming responsibility for what belongs to Him.
You can love someone without becoming responsible for every decision they make.
You can serve faithfully without believing everything depends upon you.
You can prepare wisely without trying to control the outcome.
And you can pray about something without spending the rest of the day carrying it in your mind.
Sometimes surrender is not giving up.
It is putting the weight back into the right hands.
Reflection
What are you carrying today?
Ask yourself: Has God actually given me responsibility for this, or have I assumed responsibility for it?
If there is something you can faithfully do, do it.
If there is something you need to release, release it.
And if you cannot yet tell the difference, ask God for the wisdom to know what belongs in your hands and what belongs in His.
Prayer
Father, show me where I have taken responsibility for things You never asked me to carry. Give me wisdom to recognise what You have entrusted to me and faith to release what belongs to You. Help me to serve, love and respond faithfully without trying to control what only You can control. In Jesus' name, Amen.
— Nekeisha Camille