Friend to Friend

She was three. She arched her arm and pointed her fingers at me.

“You’re frozen, Gaga!”

I stopped in place, one arm behind me, the other in the air. She giggled, then quickly unfroze me.

There was a time if you were in the vicinity of anyone under the age of six, you were familiar with the movie, Frozen. It’s the story of two sisters struggling in their relationship with each other and in finding acceptance. At one point Elsa, the older sister sang these words:

Let it go, let it go

And I’ll rise like the break of dawn

Those words are similar to those I sensed God whispering years ago.

Suzie, let go of the past that you cannot undo. 

Let me rise to heal your hurting heart.

Maybe you’ve sensed God asking you to let go of something – the past, old mistakes, unforgiveness, unresolved bitterness, a warped identity. It can be hard to let go when you don’t know how. I wrestled with those same questions and eventually came to understand the following:

Letting go means that I give up what is beyond my control to embrace what I can.

In Isaiah 43:18-19, a nation holds tightly to the past, but by doing so they are missing the new things that God wants to show them. The prophet speaks boldly to them.

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, And rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV).

As I sensed God asking me to leave the past behind, I had to let go of what I couldn’t control.

• I couldn’t control my childhood, but I could see the miracles of today.
• I couldn’t control someone’s hurtful words, but I could replace them with truth.
• I couldn’t control negative people, but I could choose joy for myself.

Letting go wasn’t easy in the beginning. However, just as the prophet Isaiah describes new roads in the desert and rivers in the wilderness, the more that I let go of what I couldn’t control to embrace what I could, new ways of thinking and relating and living were carved into my very being.

Do you sense God asking you to let go?

• Be mindful of what you can’t change.
• Ask God to show you what you can do, with His help.
• Be patient as you step into healing, for this takes time.

As you let go, there’s a secondary miracle. Letting go doesn’t just change us. You begin to live, speak, and relate as a healed woman, and that filters down to the next generation and the next — like the cute little blond-haired, blue-eyed angel chasing her Gaga through the house, singing “Let it go!”

 

Let’s Pray

Jesus, I’ve wanted to let go for a long time, but I wasn’t sure how. I’m ready to take that leap of faith. Today I give up what I cannot control to embrace what I can. Thank You for carving new roads in the desert of my heart, and new rivers in the wilderness of my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

Now It’s Your Turn

What is one thing you’ve struggled to let go?  Speak this principle out loud: Letting go is giving up what I can’t control to embrace what I can. What is one step you can take today, with God’s help?

 

More from the Girlfriends

Do you long for a Mended Heart? Suzie’s book, The Mended Heart: God’s Healing for Your Broken Places is a practical, gentle tool to help you get started.

 

 

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Do you love podcasts? Listen to Suzie’s daily podcast, Prayer Starters, with the KLRC podcast network. It’s a 3–4-minute dose of the Word, a bit of encouragement, and a prayer starter to begin a conversation with God, right where you are.

© 2023 by Suzanne Eller. All rights reserved.

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