There are some things I can’t do, shocking as that may sound to you. Here you were, thinking I was all perfect with my dashing good looks and dazzling personality. . . . I seriously digress. There are really some things I can’t do.

1) I can’t make anyone like me or be interested in me if they’re not. I can’t, and believe me I have tried in the past with only tragi-comic results to show for it.

2) I can’t do life through sheer willpower. As many times as I have steeled myself to be strong and independent, I have faltered in the fight and grown weak in the waiting. I don’t have nearly the strenth or stamina to do it alone. Not by a long shot.

3) I can’t guarantee that everything in my life will always stay like it is today. That all my relationships will still be intact and all my hopes alive and my circumstances unaltered. In fact, I really can’t guarantee anything except that change will come, ususally when it is not expected.

4) I can’t save myself from myself. I will always fall back on old fears and give in to temptations and believe the same old lies I have believed in the past.

What can I do? There are a few things.

1) I can be myself and let God bring me the people He wants to be in my life. I can enjoy those people while they are in my life and give them the grace to go when God calls them to a different path than mine. I can be the best friend to each of them while I am able and as long as God wills. I can be Jesus to them.

2) I can surrender my will to Jesus and make myself available to Him. I can invite Him to live His life through me and learn to use the power that raised Him from the dead as I face opposition and temptation. I can say YES to Jesus and give Him room to work in my life. All He needs is a place to start.

3) I can trust that God works all things, including changing circumstances and people, for my good and His glory. I can trust that He sees the big picture and is working for a Victory that is not just mine, but everybody’s. I can believe in faith that He is for me and with me all the way to the very end.

4) I can fall a thousand times and get back up and call it a victory. I can take 99 steps back and 100 steps forward and call it progress. I can believe what Jesus says about me instead of listening to the lies of the media, the world, and me. I can live as the Beloved of God, like I am already what He’s declared I will be. Like I am the way He already sees me.

I can’t be god. I can trust God. I can know that I am in good Hands!

Amen and amen!