God Wants His Job Back Giveaway
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NOTE:ย There seems to have been a glitch on the Crosswalk.com site and an old devotion of mine ran instead of the correct one. ย The correct one is called God Wants His Job Back? Click here to take a peek and so you’ll know what I am referring to in this post. We’ll wait while you do. Be sure to come back for the giveaway!
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Do you too like to call the shots, be in charge, run the show?
Welcome to the control freaks club. :)
If you, like me, struggle with wanting to situate people and manipulate outcomes, here a few quotes taken from my newly released book and 6-week dvd Bible study: LET. IT. GO. How to Stop Running the Show & Start Walking in Faith.
“Where you can get yourself (and your emotions) in a tangled-up mess is when you act before you pray. Leap before you look. Cart before the horse in a race to your own coveted finish. Yes, do what you can โ prayerfully and carefully โ but leave the results to God. Your job is obedience. Godโs job is results.”
“There exists a miniscule line between being conscientious and being controlling. A marker so fine, we women often cross it without even noticing that itโs stretched out right there in front of us, waiting to trip us up. What we must do is determine the difference between being conscientious (our part) and being in control (Godโs job).”
And perhaps the whole book is best summed up by my friend Liz’s description of it:
โEspecially written for wives and mothers who try to control everyone and everything around them (believe me, I get this!),ย Let. It. Go.offers solid advice, wise counsel, and a healthy dose of humor. Full of why-to and how-to suggestions, plus helpful tools to measure what needs fixing, Karen Ehmanโs book goes right to the heart of the issue: โare we trying to be godly or are we trying to be God?โโ
Liz Curtis Higgs, author ofย The Girlโs Still Got It
Through the remainder of November, ALL PRODUCTS purchase through Proverbs 31 Ministries are 25% off! Whoo-hoo! Christmas shopping time! Click here to order.
Speaking of Christmas, would you like to join over 6500 women and get my free resourceย From Chaos to Calm:ย The LET. IT. GO. Christmas Challenge? Youย might just win a Kindle Fire for participating!
Do you often have Norman Rockwell-like expectations about the holidays โ the decorations, the food, the gifts, the activity โ laden schedule, the family get-togethers?
There are many areas where women want to exert control ensuring the perfect yuletide season. What if we learned instead to let go of unrealistic expectations and embrace an โout-of-controlโ Christmas this year: relaxing and relating in a peaceful manner while letting others offer input and ultimately allowing God to call the shots?
This five-day challenge will allow Christmas to go from chaos to calm as you learn to control what you should and trust God with what you canโt. The result? Less stressing and more blessing! ย Click here for the free sign up.
And, as promised in the devotion, here is the giveaway:
It includes a copy of the book, a Cinnamon stick candle from the White barn Company and some Starbucks cinnamon coffee.
And finally, the LET. IT. GO. blog tour continues where we are giving away a second Kindle Fire. Today’s posts are found at my friends’ blogs:ย Kara Chupp’sย ย Arlene Pellicane’sย ย Goodbye, house. Hello, home!ย Getting Freedom
To find even more bloggers participating, click here.
Now, to leave a comment to win the giveaway, tell me, which area do you struggle the most with wanting to control, your husband’s behavior, the kids’ behavior, your schedule, the house, or circumstances in general? Or is it something else? Please share.
Kids behavior! Definitely.
I honestly feel like like I struggle with controlling EVERYTHING haha I am such a micro-manger. However, I would have to say I struggle with wanting to control my circumstances the most. I HATE the current phase of life that my husband and I are in. I am a full-time grad student and work full-time as an assistant at an elementary school. My husband works full-time, and recently joined the National Guard so he will be leaving for Boot Camp in January. I hate that in our current situation we are broke poor, living away from both our families and will soon be apart from each other. I know in my heart it is all apart of God’s plan, but I hate watching my friends move ahead in their life and feeling like I am on pause in mine. I know it is temporary and that come summer he will be back from Basic Training, and I will be done with my school, but I hate the unknown. I wish I could control all these aspects in my life, but I really should just let it go and see what God wants to teach me during this process.
Blessings,
Kirsten
I fully understand the need to be in control, of everything. My younger sisters still tease me today, about being that little girl who made them sit on a chair, and wait, until everything was organized. Honestly, this is something I have felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to work on for the last few months. Your devotion came at the right time in my life, because I am open to listening. So, I will continue to work at letting God lead my day, actions, and words. All the while knowing that he placed my love for organization and planning within me.
Expecting my husband to do things my way when it comes to working on projects around the house; that is my biggest letting it go challenge. We’ve been renovating for 3+ years & I always think I have more efficient ways of doing things. The Lord is asking me to let go thinking I have the best ideas more than keeping my mouth closed =)
I have such a problem letting go. I would love to win this!
I unfortunately struggle with controlling everything, especially my kids and our routines, or more specifically “my” routine and schedule. I get upset when things don’t go my way or according to plans.
Karen —
I feel like your devotion yesterday (which I just read) was written directly for me. I am a huge control freak even though I know it isn’t healthy — for me or anyone around me. I struggle most with trying to control my children’s behaviour and my schedule and our household routines. Fortunately, I don’t really try to control my husband’s behaviour since I know that he’s in charge of himself. Anyways I would love to win your book.
Thank you for offering us readers the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue with you.
I just want to send out a huge thank you to Karen. I have been struggling with the “how to” part of giving control over to God. I have been wanting to do it, but until I read your “God wants his job back”, I couldn’t figure out the how. Your write up gave me a light bulb moment and now I get it!!! I get it!!! I will make the mind set to be more conscientious in all that I do (doing it for HIm and not for man), and by doing that, it puts Him in the driver’s seat. I am not saying it will be easy, as there are years of bad habits to break…..but I really get it now, and will strive each and everyday to do better than the day before. Thank you!!! ; )
I hate to admit it, but I can be a controlling person in most areas of my life. I had to rely on myself a lot earlier in life, and have learned to look out for number one…that is not good. I constantly have to challenge myself to be aware of my controlling behavior and remember this life is a gift from God…I’m not entitled to anything!!! Therefore, this mentality helps me to change my perspective. Live and let God has become a way of life for me in the past year and a half. I am learning that God will guide me to where I need to be, and that makes me feel safe….releasing me from my tendencies to control circumstances that are not really mine to begin with…All things work together for the will of God…not my will!
i like control over everything bad thing that I need to let go of and not let God be in control