Monday, July 8, 2013

Guest Post: Letting Go

People who know me might say that I can be a bit of a control freak. I do like to have things in order. I make lists. I plan ahead. I put everything on my calendar. I do things best on a schedule and a timeline. And I like to know all of my options so I can make the best choices.

But what I am working on right now is letting go. Not letting go in a way that brings chaos into my life, but rather letting go in a way that brings peace because I have handed things over to God.

I decided that there might be something to this whole idea of letting go when it suddenly hit me that the greatest blessing in my life came from a giant act of letting go. That blessing is my beautiful 18-month-old daughter. The letting go happened in the 21 months that we spent waiting to adopt her.

The beginning of the adoption process was made for someone like me. We had a long list of things to accomplish. I got to make a schedule and check things off my list. I enjoyed being in control of what I needed to do and regularly feeling like we were making progress. But once we got to the end of that long list of background checks, reference letters, scrapbooks, and personal essays, we entered the next phase of the process–the waiting period. It was during this time that I had to learn to let go. You see, I had no control over how long we would wait, nor did we even have any idea of how long that wait would be. There was nothing I could do.

Those are not easy words for me to think. Except that there was one thing I could do–and did do: pray regularly. By telling God that I trusted Him to bring us the baby we were meant to have, I was able to often feel a great peace in my heart. And by telling God that I trusted His timing, I gave myself permission to not obsess quite so much over when it might happen. I cannot say that the wait was easy in any way, but I can say that letting go made it possible for me to make it through all those months.


What are some situations in your life that need to be handed over to God?



Stephanie Vanderford is the vice-chair of the Stewardship Committee. She's been at Sardis since middle school, serving in many capacities including elder. Stephanie teaches math and economics at Providence Day School. 

Pictured are Robert, Greta and Stephanie Vanderford.

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