no matter how well I plan things, I can't control them. No matter how well I think I know the people in my life, I can't control them. No matter how well I follow the rules, do what's right, and seek to obey God with my whole heart, I can't control my life. I can't control God.

I often pray this prayer: I need wisdom to make wise choices. I need insight to remember the words I've read in scripture. I need power beyond what I can find on my own.

Finding the gentle middle between exploding and stuffing can be hard, but God is working on me. How about you?

When having a goal takes your focus off God and His daily intentions for you, it can cause trouble. Proverbs

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him" (2 Chron. 16:9).

Run until you can't take another step. Do it not in your strength but in Mine.

And the ties that truly bind me to Him and the truth of who I am in Him are given to me in those quiet moments where I say, "I'm Yours, God.

I'm going to stop flirting with the unstable things of this world so I can fall completely in love with You. I am loved. I am held. I am Yours. I am forever Yours.

We were made for more than compromise. We were made for God's promises in every area of our lives.

If we want His direction for our decisions, the great cravings of our souls must not only be the big moments of assignment. They must also be the seemingly small instructions in the most ordinary of moments when God points His Spirit finger saying, Go there.

Compromise built upon compromise equals failure. Instead, resisting temptation allowed promise upon promise to be built up in my heart, and that creates empowerment.

To trust God is to trust His timing. To trust God is to trust His way. God loves me too much to answer my prayers at any other time than the right time and in any other way than the right way.