I think it was the summer of 1984 when my family took off on our first family road trip. My parents had friends stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and so Daddy, Mama, Christopher and I hopped into the Chevrolet and headed west. I don’t remember how many hours we were in the car, but it was a bunch of ‘em. And the whole way, Mama and Daddy were telling us about how Kentucky was “The Blue Grass State.” And my little six-year-old heart was excited because I was going to get to see blue grass.
(Okay, go ahead and laugh. I’ll wait a minute while you get your composure. I was six. Give me a break!)
And I was some kind of out-of-sorts when we got to Kentucky and I didn’t see nary a blade of blue grass. I pouted about it for a while and felt that I had been lied to and betrayed. But eventually, I got over it.
Francis Chan says, “What you believe absolutely determines how you act.” And though my example is silly and simplistic, it is true. I believed the grass was going to be blue and when it wasn’t, I was disappointed.
It translates into adulthood, too.
One of the hardest mindsets for me to get over is that I’m going through life alone. Especially when I’m going through difficult times. And when I believe that I’m walking alone, I act as though I have to make my life happen all by myself. I take on so much more than I was ever meant to carry.
The truth is that I’m not going through life alone. And it’s not all up to me. In fact, I don’t even begin to have it in me to handle my life by myself.
Chan reminds me that the Holy Spirit is the power that helps me through it all. He helps me to think. He helps me to speak. He helps me to make wise decisions. He heals me. He gives me hope. He gives me the strength and the gifts that I need to be productive. And then, one of my favorite things – He comforts me.
I do NONE of it on my own. And when I truly believe that, it will make it so much easier to act like it and stop pretending I can do any of it by myself.
This post is part of a weekly discussion on Francis Chan’s book, “Forgotten God.” You do not have to read the book to weigh in on the topics at hand. But if you have written a response to this chapter, you can link it up at the widget below before going to see my co-facilitator, Jason Stasyszen, at Connecting to Impact.
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About Sarah Salter
Woo hoo !!Good one Sista Sarah..Lord if I had to handle life by myself I would be in a mess.. Thanks for sharing…But when I went to Kentucky… on my way to RR Camporama in Eagle Rock, Missouri long about1985 .. the grass “looked” a little blue to me..Maybe it turned blue that summer or .. At least when I looked out over a vary large field of grass, it was like the tips of the blades of grass looked blue…. or by the time we got that far I was “seeing things”.. LOL.
Interesting thought occurred to me as I read your post. It’s certainly true with the Holy Spirit, but it’s true with people as well. If I believe I’m on my own and I’m the only one who cares for me or looks out for me, that leads to my experiencing that. I will drive everyone and everything away to prove what I believe. That just makes me sad because I know people like that. They live with surface relationships and try to struggle on their own when so many times there are people trying to love them, just as our God is trying to love us. Good stuff, Sarah. 🙂 And when I was a kid I thought the same thing about the “blue grass state.” You are not alone in that!