Early on in my spiritual experiences, I heard a few phrases. Here are two.
- God is my co-pilot
- God loves you and has a wonderful plan fo your life
I am the the first person to admit that there is some truth in these phrases.
God is with me and never will forsake me. In fact, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, lives within me because I am a child of God.
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
As I have experienced life and grown in understanding a little more about God, I find the idea of God being my co-pilot uncomfortable. Yes, God is with me but he is not there to assist my flight plan. He is there to design the trip I take everyday because he knows more about the world I am trying to navigate. He made that world and set everything in place. He sustains that world and creates order every single moment. I cannot understand how this world works, let alone create it or sustain it! I am here because of God. He made me and enables by body to function to have life. My thoughts and plans need to be focused on God and his will for my life.
In looking at the first law of the famous booklet The Four Spiritual Laws, I see scriptural truth but I feel the reader(me and you) may be tempted to place too much emphasis on ME. I admit that God loves me and he does have a wonderful plan for my life.
4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
I have to remember that God's loving plan is about knowing Him and seeking to glorify Him in all I say or do. It is about God's great love and Mercy. It is Christ and Christ alone who makes me alive. It's not anything I do but everything He did.
As I look at my life, I see where I understood this in part when I trusted Christ. I thought I did. I understood that God is more of everything good. I had a glimpse but I really didn't understand this very well. After becoming a mom of a special needs child, I began to put a few pieces together. I was full of all kinds of emotions with my son's diagnosis. Life felt out of control. I needed a lot more than a co-pilot. I needed a God who would take this mess and make something positive out of it. I had to let go of control. You may know the prayer I prayed. "God, you have to take this because I can't do it. I trust you because there is no other choice. I have absolutely no idea of how to handle this."
Trials cause me to realize that there is only one God and it's not me. I need to acknowledge this and it usually takes me a while to do it. God is bigger than me. He is wiser, stronger, more faithful and loving than I will ever be in a 1000 years. The list goes on. As I realize how God is more of all good things, I am able to release my own will to control the circumstances of my life.
Interestingly, I learned this lesson as I relinquished my own will to control life after my son's diagnosis. I came to realize that this was not as big of crisis as I first thought. As I looked to God, He showed me a new normal. It was hard but it could be done. In fact, it was God's will for my life. It has been a way that God has shown me that He loves all people and has a wonderful plan for every life. He has led me to walk along side families with the challenges of parenting a child with special needs, These are some of those works God had prepared for me to do. If I had not seen that God was more, I might of missed His plan for this time in my life.
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