Letting Go. . .

Those of you who follow our weekday devotional "The Special of the Day. . .From the Orange Moon Cafe" will remember reading the saga of my husband soaking his smartphone in a bowl of water for thirty minutes.  (If you haven't read it, it is quite an entertaining story.)

When Glen came into the room to tell me about the phone, he was remarkably calm.  The only way his demeanor could have been more peaceful as he said the words, "I have bit of an emergency," would have been if he had said the words with a slight English accent.

For those of you who own smartphones, you know the sense of panic that can ensue when something has happened to your phone.  If you are like me, virtually everything you need is on that phone.

My phone has replaced so many of the gadgets and things I used to carry.  It has my Bible, my calendar, my calculator, my watch (I just don't wear one anymore), my health records, my camera, my photo album, my OB wheel I use for work, my flashlight, my music player, several different exercise programs, my financial manager, my memo pad, my file folders, my atlas, my shopping list, my games and, of coure, my phone.  To lose my phone would be like losing everything. (And yes, I DO back up the data!)

As I was contemplating this thought, I ran across the quote by Corrie Ten Boom about holding on to the things in our lives:

"You must learn to hold everything loosely. . .everything.  Even your dear family.  Why?  Because the Father may wish to take one of them back to Himself, and when He does, it will hurt you if He must pry your fingers loose.  Remember. . .hold everything loosely.  Everything." 
                                                                                              ― Corrie ten Boom

There should be nothing in our lives that we are afraid to loosen our grasps upon.  If we look out toward the future and think "If I were to loose this thing --or this person -- I could not handle it," then two things are sure.  

First, we are traveling into the future without the Lord.  We are assuming that we will even have the next breath, which is not guaranteed for any of us.  Then we are, as Corrie Ten Boom would say, "...carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. "  

Secondly, we are denying the fact that Christ is all we will ever need in any situation.  He is the  "God of all comfort," and our "all in all."   If we don't believe, if we don't know deep within our heart that no matter befalls us, God will be enough in our every situation, then we don't know our God well enough.  The problem is not with God it is with our faith and belief in our God.

Rock of Ages

by Augustus M. Toplady

  Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy wounded side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Save from wrath and make me pure.




Not the labor of my hands

Can fulfill Thy law's demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone;

Thou must save, and Thou alone.




Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress;

Helpless, look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die.




While I draw this fleeting breath,

When my eyes shall close in death,

When I rise to worlds unknown,

And behold Thee on Thy throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee.