Letting God Be God

There’s a realisation that comes with time, often through disappointment and unanswered prayers.  A realisation that is both grounding and heartbreaking all at once: on this side of earth and eternity, you and I cannot fix or change anything or anyone.

I used to try so hard.
I would reason, explain, over explain, hope harder, pray more, love deeper, believing that if I could just find the right words, be patient enough or faithful enough, things would shift.  People would change.  Situations would stabilise.  Life would finally feel secure.

But it doesn’t work like that.

I’ve had to come to terms with my own limitations, especially as a young woman who longs for stability, something solid to hold onto in a world that feels constantly in motion and out of my control.

I am not God.
And learning that has brought a quiet confidence.

I don’t carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.  I’m not responsible for fixing broken hearts, saving relationships or forcing outcomes.  That role was never mine to begin with, it belongs to God.

And yet it has hurt to admit that prayer is sometimes the only thing I can do.  That I can love deeply and still have to release the outcome.  That surrender doesn’t come with guarantees, timelines or explanations.

Trusting God often means sitting in the discomfort of not knowing, watching things unfold slowly or not at all, while resisting the urge to intervene, control or rescue.  It asks me to believe that God is working even when I can’t see it and even when I wish He’d hurry up.

There is grief in that.
Grief for the illusion of control.
Grief for the life I thought I could engineer if I just tried hard enough.

But there is also freedom.

Because when I stop trying to be God, I can finally be human.  I can pray instead of panic.  Hope instead of fix.  Rest instead of strive.  I can show up faithfully without carrying the impossible burden of outcomes.

So, I am learning, imperfectly, to pray and let God be God.  To trust that stability doesn’t come from control but from surrender.  And to believe that even in the waiting, even in the uncertainty, I am being held.

What’s your favourite verse that speaks into trusting God?

Many Blessings, Grace. Xx

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56 responses to “Letting God Be God”

  1. Timothy B Horne avatar
    Timothy B Horne

    This is a wonderful post Grace.
    When we come to that place of understanding our own fragility and limitation, we are driven to our knees in prayer. That is our secret strength, because there we are resting in God’s strength, in God’s will, and in God’s grace. He is faithful. He is wise. He knows the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is to come. (Isaiah 46:10).

    1. Amen and amen! Thank you for sharing. 🥰

  2. “Incline my heart to YOUR testimonies and not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in YOUR ways. Confirm to Your servant Your promise that You may be feared.” Psalm 119:36-38 (my “life” verse)

    1. Amen! Thank you for sharing your life verse. 🥹

  3. Great post! ~ Rosie

  4. Hey good morning Grace, good morning brothers and sisters. I’ve been such a fool, Ive been the motley fool. The joker. I have been interrupting God’s natural processes I have tried to save people thinking I knee better when in fact I was the rebel. The vision I was given to speak out on shore of wakayama in Osaka June 2018 I thought was for everyone when in fact it was for me alone. I have been Jonah o retched man I am.

    Pray for me and Becca, I hurt 🤕 her by my endless talking, trying to tell her a story that I thought was for others, but it was my own story for me alone

    I thought I was wise when I fact I was a child.

    Lord, and the body of Christ, please forgive me, I am sorry 😔

  5. In 1956, at the ripe old age of 13, my Sunday school teacher asked us to select a verse of the New Testament to adopt. I chose Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Even in the Marine Corps of the 1960s, this has held me in good standing.
    0

    1. Amen! Thank you for sharing your life verse! 💙

  6. Excellent post. The verse that speaks trust to me is Proverbs 3:5-6 because it reminds us not to rely on our own understanding.
    “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.”

    1. Amen! This is my life verse! 🥹

  7. “But there is also freedom…Because when I stop trying to be God, I can finally be human. I can pray instead of panic. Hope instead of fix. Rest instead of strive. I can show up faithfully without carrying the impossible burden of outcomes.”

    This is why Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He never meant for us to feel so burdened.

    Thank you for another enlightening post.

    1. Amen! Thank you for reading. 💛

  8. Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
    6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

    1. Amen, this is my life verse! Xx

  9. Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
    I’m actually beginning a blog series on Proverbs chapter 3!

    1. Oh wow! This is my life verse too! 🩷

  10. Beautifully said, hard to live sometimes – your post helps to refocus us on an unchanging God in a constantly changing world

  11. Excellent word of exhortation; thank you!

    Juliet Canha jcwholeness.wordpress.com/blog

    1. Thank you so much for reading. 💜

  12. I think of the verse ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…’ Genesis 50:20. Joseph trusted God, even though his life seemed turned upside down. And look what God was doing all that time! God is in control and His ways are perfect, and He can bring something good out of anything. The longer I know Him, the more I understand this. I remember how for the longest time, when I would witness to someone and they didn’t respond, I felt like I had failed. Then I finally realized what this meant: 1 Corinthians 3:5,6 ‘…Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.’ I realized it was my job to do what God told me. But, I am not responsible for the results. God is the one who makes the seed grow. There is rest in just being obedient. I enjoy your writings.

    1. Amen! This is so true and there is so much hope and encouragement that comes from knowing that the Lord will use all things for our good.
      Thank you so much for your encouragement and for reading! 🧡

  13. I love, love, love this post. Just this morning I was looking up verses that talked about the plans of the Lord and how they will happen, just as HE wills them.
    There is grief in knowing I can only do so much, but so much PEACE in believing that God is sovereign and GOOD and faithful and trustworthy. :’)
    Isaiah 46:8-11

    1. Amen! Thank you so much for sharing this verse. So glad this post was encouraging to you too! 🩵

  14. Thank you for the love on my post girl! & thank you for sharing this beautiful piece. I also, in the best of times, struggle with a need for control. It has taken me a long time to learn to let go and let God (hey, I’m still learning) but I have found there is a beautiful balance when we choose to co-create with God rather than trying to control and create outcomes independently. After all, our plans and desires may be wonderful but nowhere near as wonderful as God’s, right? Verses that have helped me throughout my life are Joshua 1:9 which speaks of God commanding us to not be afraid or worried because He is with us wherever we go. In times when I have been riddled with fear, this verse has gotten me through. Another verse (or rather verses) I often refer to is 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. They remind me that God is working with me and through me; that every challenge I am facing is building me into the person He wants me to be; and that I am a spiritual being gifted with a divine purpose, walking on a physical plane. Keep up the amazing work! Sending love your way xx

    1. Wow, amen! Thank you for sharing all these verses… they truly do give so much hope. And I agree; there is truly so much beauty when we choose to co-create with God. Xx

      1. You got this and God’s got you girl. Glad to connect with you on here. Sending love xx

      2. ❤️❤️❤️

  15. Surrender is so hard for all of us, that human condition sneaks up on us and makes it difficult to let go of our ‘control’ (cuz it’s really not our control). I love Proverbs 3:4-6 and Philippians 4:6-7 to help myself with this. Familiar verses but powerful when you meditate on them. Beautiful words here!

    1. Amen! Thank you for reading. 🥰

  16. It’s funny how people know God to be omniscient, yet they’re always telling God what to do!!

    The need to control life events occurs as a result of the fear of the unknown. The human precondition is to plan, to imagine happiness. When that doesn’t happen, people are disappointed. Breaking this vicious cycle is so essential to embracing not only happiness, but also ourselves and God.

    What people call sorrow, failure, disappointment is a gift too. Learning to see it that way opens our hearts and minds to the mystery of life and the joy of living.

    1. Amen! This is so true!
      Thank you for reading. 💛

  17. Wise words, Grace! I found my heart especially responding to: “When I stop trying to be God, I can finally be human. I can pray instead of panic. Hope instead of fix. Rest instead of strive. I can show up faithfully without carrying the impossible burden of outcomes.” AMEN to that!! A verse that has helped me trust was gifted me one morning after receiving disturbing news the day before. As I began my quiet time, I aimlessly opened my Bible first instead of the study guide. But “it just so happened” my Bible had fallen open to the next verse set out in the guide. In fact, th verse was at the very top of the page! In the moment before beginning to read,I felt the Spirit whisper in my spirit, “This scripture is for you.” And then I read: “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7). God has brought that verse to mind a number of times since, encouraging me rest in his sovereignty.

    1. Wow, that is definitely an encouraging verse! How beautiful that you were reminded of it in such a timely manner. 🥹

  18. I am going through some things that require faith and trust. I trust God but still have to stop pushing as well

    1. Keep holding onto His promises! 🙏

  19. Thankyou for sharing your heart ♥️ I’m new to the party!
    I’m reading thru Matthew again and there’s been so much mention of Jesus love for children and how we are to come to Jesus like a child. Thinking of kids made me think of my mini poodle 😁

    She has a trust and faith in my ability to love her and care for her that really makes no sense. I mess up often as a new dog owner.

    But God wants us to come to Him in this way. Total faith and trust, but not blindly, as a friend said recently. With our eyes open, on the One that will never mess up or let us down. We CAN actually trust our heavenly Father, to always do what’s best. ❤️

    Not sure that makes sense, I’m still mulling it over 😁

    1. That makes so much sense! Thank you for sharing your heart and this analogy that has been revealed to you. How sweet! 🥹

  20. Thank you Grace once more for writing so eloquently. I learned that I was sometimes getting in God’s way by trying to fix things or people. I had to understand that people had to learn their own lessons and each time I bailed my son out, for example, I was compounding the problem. I’d pray, but then determine what action I needed to take.
    ‘Let go, and let God,’ was my lesson.

    1. Wow, that’s so powerful. Thank you for sharing. ❤️

  21. This is a really good piece of writing. I really struggle with this. It’s just difficult. And the difficulty part is me being patient.

    1. I feel you. 🤍

  22. Aptly written. Thank you for posting. Proverbs 25:11

    1. Aw, thank you for sharing that verse! That’s very encouraging. 🥰

  23. We can only change ourselves and not others. Good post. Good learning.

  24. i guess, accepting and just moving forward, trusting him, that he is there to hold us.

  25. You should meet a spiritual person because they’ll tell you otherwise. As for me, I keep trying to help people who are stuck in loops, loops that only a spiritual person could identify. Everyone is on their own level when it comes to consciousness and awareness. About God, well, what I could tell you is that nobody is incomplete, once you discover who you are, you shall discover God, then your purpose.

    1. Thanks for sharing your perspective. My writing comes from a Christian understanding of God, surrender and human limitation. Many Blessings, Grace.

  26. I love this one so much, I’ve gone back to it twice, thank you for writing it.

    1. Aw, I’m so glad! Thank you for sharing that with me. 🥰

  27. The way I see it… we can ask for things ‘petitions’ but if they are not in line with God’s will, it won’t happen. And that’s cos God knows what’s best for us—here and forever. So my main prayer is to ask that I “know and do your will.” Or as a priest once put it lately, “Tell me what to do!”

    My favorite OT quote is Isaiah 55:6-9, esp. the 8-9 part. It’s so grand. But I suppose at the very top it would be Matthew 22:36-40 because that surpasses the IMO cultural and political bias within the OT, and gives us the best message I’ve ever heard.

    1. Yes, amen! Living a life of obedience and surrender to Him! 🤍

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