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Let Go and Let God

Let Go and Let God. It’s harder than it sounds. Especially if you’ve ever been disappointed or hurt (and who hasn’t been?)…to let go and let God means giving up control, which is scary. Things might not turn out the way you want. Things aren’t going to be influenced by you. Things might not be perfect.

Let Go and Let God

So why let go and let God? Well, what are the alternatives? If you try to control everything, you scare people off. No one wants to be controlled or given ultimatums or nagged. You get wrinkles from the stress and worry. Your blood pressure rises. You are always wired and on edge. You stay up nights thinking about it and lose sleep. And in the end it’s fruitless, because you can’t do it forever. And would you want to? You can’t hold onto to something or someone without binding yourself too, enslaving you both.

Here is the beauty in let go and let God: Everything that God does is perfect. We may not understand it, or like it at the moment, but eventually if we let things happen as they are meant to, we find peace, contentment, and often a better solution or life than that which we were trying to contrive.

The catch (of course there is a catch)- to let go and let God means you do the right thing. You have to live in a godly manner. It doesn’t mean letting go of your responsibilities, it doesn’t mean letting go of doing the right things. It doesn’t mean letting go of *everything*—just of those things that we aren’t supposed to try to control anyway, like other people and their life choices. We should still do the right things, let them make their choices, and if the result is that we lose friends, or a job, or a great opportunity, then so be it. God wanted it to be so. This is the truth, because what God wants he can make happen, and if the only reason you still have a relationship going is because you are contriving to keep it going (constantly calling that person, making plans, doing all the work in the relationship) and it’s not His will, or the other person’s, eventually it’s going to end. The difference is you will have invested a lot more time, energy, and emotion, and for nothing.

Some examples- a relationship with a man who isn’t sure you are the one, so you call him each week to find out if you have a date that weekend, or a boss that asks you to do something you don’t want to do (breach of ethics) and implies you’ll lose your job if you don’t, or a sister who complains about you and imposes on you often, or a pimple that arose on your forehead the day of your wedding (I’m being silly, but really, it can be anything you don’t like or feel uncomfortable or unhappy about).

How Do You Let Go?

How would you “Let Go and Let God” in these situations? You don’t chase people. You share with people, and if you are doing all the work, there is no sharing. In scenario one, you stop chasing a man or friends who don’t seem to put as much effort into the relationship. It the relationship ends, guess what? It wasn’t meant to be. Do you really want to date a man who doesn’t care that much about you, or have a “friend” who never cares to spend time with you unless you call them and they have nothing better to do?

In scenario two, you don’t do what your boss asks. You do the right thing (sometimes that means action, sometimes that means inaction- but God won’t help out if you do the wrong thing, so just do what is right and step aside for Him to do His work). You may get fired. You may think your boss got away with it. But life is long, and a better job (with a boss that doesn’t ask you to cheat or lie) will come along, and your boss will get his come-uppance in some way- it’s not your job to see that it happens. Again- let gooooo and let God take care of him.

In scenario three, you would tell your sister to quit it, and not let her impose on you. You honor yourself and your boundaries (and that of your family if their boundaries are being crossed by your sister too) because as a child of God you deserve that dignity. If your sister gets mad or runs to your parents or doesn’t want to be “friends” for a long time, so be it. That is her choice. If the only way she can interact with you is negatively or not at all, then not at all, and it’s up to her to change. You simply let go of trying to change her or overextend yourself to accomodate her, and let God take care of her (maybe he’ll create peace in her heart so eventually she sees her errors, maybe not- you can’t control it).

Why You Should Let God

The benefits of letting go and letting God (yep, there are benefits, and LOTS of them!): You can relax. You can be yourself. You don’t have to worry about people liking you. If you are a good person, make the right choices (with strength and integrity), and let the chips fall where they may, you’ll find that good people are drawn to you, and the rest are….not. And that is the way it should be, because negative people, bad people, dishonest people don’t want to be around decent people (at least not for good reasons) and by letting nature take its course, you are weeding those out (or they are weeding themselves out).

Which leads to more benefits- room! Room for a better relationship, truer friends, a better job. Trusting in God means trusting in His love and abundance. There is enough for us all- we can all have good friends, a great spouse, the perfect job, but first we have to let go of the wrong ones. We have to trust that if we let go (it’s scary, because you may think you’ll NEVER meet another man or get another job) that God will bring to us the things that will make us happy, as long as we live with integrity and just let things develop naturally. You won’t meet Mr Right out there if you are home, on the phone, fighting with Mr Wrong, and you won’t go on the interview that gets you the right job if you are sitting at a desk at the wrong job, doing the wrong things. It’s a HUGE leap of faith, but sometimes, when you are most afraid and most fearful of letting go, it’s the time to let go the most and just trust and Let Gd.




  • JGregg

    words of wisdom and words to live by. when you mentioned the various scenarios, i was reminded of the importance of boundaries in our lives. with them others can’t hurt us (unless we allow them), and our expectations and what are our responsibilities (and someone else’s responsibility and expectations) are so much more reasonable and manageable. relying upon the Lord for guidance for our life’s journey (*especially with a spouse) is not a guarantee to make one happy, but it sure does make it easier. great post…

  • Faythe @ GrammyMouseTails

    Very insightful. It is hard to let go, we feel pressure from so many sources to get it done, do it your self, ect… if you can’t control it, that is when we need to let go…

  • What a wonderful post Penelope. When my first husband left me when I was 29 after seven years of marriage, I was, naturally, devastated. I picked myself up though, moved towns and after three years of single-ness met the man I am married to now. He is the love of my life and adores me, as I do him. I don’t need to try harder or be perfect – he loves ME. It made me realise how I did all the running around trying to keep things happy in my first marriage – and he still left me! Life is so much more, when you don’t try to control things. I try to remember that when I feel a bit control-ly.

  • Lorie Shewbridge

    Beautiful post… thanks for the reminder!

  • Shop with Me Mama

    Great post! It is always nice to have a reminder 🙂

  • Annie @ Mama Dweeb

    I love this post! It is so true. God wants control of those things we shouldn’t control anyway. You wrote it beautifully and the photos really added to the post.

    Just a question – why did you spell it G-d?

    Also, I linked to you in my post about marriage 🙂 Just go to my site, it is pretty recent – called “When the man you love frustrates you the most, eat ice cream” Thank you for the insightful posts, they are very encouraging for me!

  • Penelope

    I agree with you. Relying on the Lord is the best thing to do because He’s the only one that never lets us down- a spouse is human, and will make mistakes.

  • Penelope

    If you hadn’t accepted the end of the first marriage, and fought to keep Mr Wrong in your life, you wouldn’t be so happy now. His loss is your gain (big time!)

    Someone once told me that when love is real, it’s easy- no work. You accept each other, love each other, respect each other. No jumping through hoops to keep the other person happy or around. If you have to do that, it’s not real.

  • Penelope

    Thanks- I read your post, liked it a lot.

    Someone else asked me the same thing and it’s just because since a post can be deleted, I don’t write G-d’s name anywhere that can be deleted or tossed out (like a piece of paper). I don’t think His name should ever be deleted or tossed.

  • this was great and something that I really needed at this time in my life. I like to be in control. I had to be the one in control of things for many, many years just to keep my family afloat but I never learned when to give up that control. I am learning to let go of things that I acutally have no control over. The saying “Put it into Gods hands” is one I am living by on a daily basis. Otherwise I would be so stressed that I would not be able to eat or sleep. So as I am going through my most difficult time I am learning to let go and let God. Thanks for the inspiration.

  • Tammy

    What a great and insightful post! Some days are easier than others to trust him and not worry about the this or that. I am working on it…:)

    Thanks for stopping over. When you name popped up in my inbox, it made me smile. Happy Monday Penelope! 🙂

  • wicus

    hi i am firm believer in God do my quite time every morning go to church and small group i recently met this women we fell in love but only after 2months she broke it off needed space but in my heart i know that she is the one it just feels right to be with her! I prayed for a aswer from God still nothing. Its my hearts desire to be with her! What should i do i need guidance and advise please she does not want to speak to be please advise

  • Jim Geldart

    Hi Penelope,

    I just twittered the statement that while I agree with you, I have found it hard to fully absorb it into my inner self, because the New Testament also has a parable of Jesus, where he shows God’s admonishment to those that do not perform to their fullest as well. (The Parable of the “Talents”.) To those that have, will be also given more ect.,, regarding the worker who did the most with what the landlord gave him, hence getting the Landowner’s (God’s reward of abundance or pay). This was opposite to the worker who just put the “talents” in the ground to save them in safety for when the landlord came back. Here the result was an angry landlord (metaphor for God) taking away what the worker saved, and giving them to the worker that already had the most talents.

    This, together with the fact that some people including born again Christians, have been given a lot more “scud missiles” in their life than others, whether they are waiting and doing little (waiting for God to provide, or get them out of their predicaments, or standing firm on the Rock) with some prayer added, or out pushing for progress to feed the family, and get ahead to also enable themselves to give more to church and society as part to philanthropy.

    Hence the statement, I believe is indeed excellent to encourage people with, but can also be harmful if it also inhibits intended inspiration to action, and increase of purpose for long term gain in all ways for God to also support and reward this action rather than waiting.

    What are your thoughts to these conundrum like statements?.

    Best Wishes, and God Bless You For the Commentary and Effort.

    Jim Geldart

  • Penelope

    I don’t think we should ever stop doing our best to glorify God in our actions every day, and being the best we can be for ourself and our family…I believe in letting go of what we can’t control anymore, and in being more accepting of things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. I often feel like I’m fighting uphill battles over things that just don’t really matter, instead of picking my battles. I’d rather focus on things that are more relevant, more eternal, and especially on things that directly affect the welfare of my family, and even with those things I do the best I can, and after that, I try to trust God if things go a certain way anyway.