Let It Go…

I visited my friend’s church service recently, and sat very sober as I listened to the words of a the man on stage speak. His job was just to welcome the congregation, share any updates, and pray. But I held on to his precious words.

He led us all to pray silently, “let everything and everyone go. Find rest for your souls.” So humbly, and simply put. I searched my own spirit to find what I hold onto so tightly. The man continued to share the verse in the Bible that talks about casting your anxieties on the Lord, because He cares for you. In that moment, it felt so much more freeing to just let go of any thoughts I wondered about… whatever it was.

As I continued going about my week, I remembered the man’s kind words, and would pray them over myself whenever I found myself thinking too much about something I do not have full control over. I reminded myself that I can only control what I do, how I think, and how I respond to something.

“Let everything and everyone go. Find rest for your souls.” I felt the warm, summer breeze on my face as I repeated these kind words to my heart days later— the sun shone against the pond so beautifully, and brought me comfort.

Our hearts can have many reasons to sink into sadness or worry. Our minds have so many reasons to overthink and plan, strategize and fixate on what does not seem to be working. Have you ever had your blood drawn, or needed to get a shot in your arm or leg? Best practice would be to relax your muscles. If you don’t, well, that needle makes itself known at it stabs your skin. With a relaxed muscle, shots tend to hurt a lot less. When we worry or hyper fixate on what we may not be able to control, we are tensing our bodies in a similar fashion, which is never helpful to us.

Relaxing your muscle provides more relief. So, is it similar with our minds? In letting something go— release the tension? That “something” we are so worried about could still linger, but as we continue to relax and let it go, the pang of that worry begins to fade. Especially when you know Who you’ve given that worry away to so that we can be filled with the gift of peace, believing that He cares for you. I think that, is where we find the rest that our soul so desperately needs.

So, “let everything and everyone go. Find rest for your souls.”