Make My List Smaller

by Suzie Eller | | 5 comments

Friend to Friend

My friend and I were sitting in a coffee shop. She was struggling that morning with a heavy burden; one she had carried for a long time. She shared that she was so angry that it overwhelmed her at times.

“Can you name a person you are angry with?” I asked.

“Just one?” she said.

“Okay, more than one,” I responded. “Can you list the people you struggle to forgive?”

She named 10 quickly, bending down a finger for each one. When I asked my sweet friend how we could pray about this together, she whispered, “Suzie, I want God to help me make this list smaller.”

What a brave prayer!

Maybe you identify with my friend. You have a list. Maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it’s an unwanted battle and it feels way too big.

Paul the Apostle was a mentor to a young church in Ephesus. While under house arrest, he wrote a letter to them. In it, he encouraged his friends that God could help them do hard things. They could approach God with freedom and confidence to find the strength they needed.

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12 NIV).

What a beautiful promise!

When I began my faith journey years ago, this verse helped me with my own list. Like my friend, I had things I wanted to let go of, but that felt way too hard. I couldn’t do it on my own, no matter how hard I tried. I needed wisdom. I needed to know how to let go of things that I didn’t like, but that felt a part of me.

As I walked into His presence with confidence (or the beginning of confidence), I felt that weight shift a little bit from my shoulders to His. I was no longer carrying it alone.

I don’t know what your “list” looks like today.

Perhaps, you want to feel less angry. Maybe you long for God to restore areas of your heart, mind, or soul. Perhaps you long to walk deeper in your faith, and your list is filled with things that seem way too far down the road.

Whatever it is, making your list is brave. You’ve brought your battle and your hopes into the Light. You are offering it to the One who sees and loves you, and who offers wisdom and direction, and most of all healing and hope. Your list may be long, but God is greater. You are asked to walk into His presence with confidence and freedom. And God will help make that list a little smaller as your faith in Him grows a little taller.

Let’s Pray

God, my list is long. I want to know You more. I want to put down the weights that are too heavy for me. I want to live free because that is what You have in store for me. I know that there will always be things to battle, but I am grateful I can walk into Your presence with confidence and freedom, and You help me. Thank you for that,
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Now It’s Your Turn

Who or what is on your list? Write down the one thing that you are battling. If there is more than one, that’s okay. Your honesty is brave.

At the top of the page, write the promise found in Ephesians 3:12. Make it personal. Write your name in the verse. Share your list with God. Walk into His presence with confidence that He loves you, and He offers you the freedom to talk about it with Him as His daughter.

More from the Girlfriends

In Suzie’s book, The Mom I Want to Be: Rising Above Your Past To Give Your Kids a Great Future, Suzie shares the battle she faced when holding her child for the first time. She longed to give her child a whole and healed woman as a mother.

This book is a resource for any woman who desires to heal from the wounds of the past, so that she can give her child (or grandchild) something greater.

(As an Amazon Associate, Girlfriends in God earns A SMALL COMMISSION from qualifying purchases using this paid link.)

© 2022 by Suzanne Eller. All rights reserved.