Stepping Out of God’s Way
He ironed. I watched.
I stood in the door frame of my guest room, watching my nephew Jonathan iron the wrinkles out of his crumpled shirt and the creases out of his crumpled heart. He’d stopped by for a visit on his way to a wedding in my hometown, and his clothes were a mess. He ironed and talked. I watched and listened.
Life hadn’t been easy for Jonathan. While he had an adoring, godly mother and two amazing siblings, the absence of a father left a lingering ache that’s been hard to heal. Their dad’s abandonment affected each of kids differently, but Jonathan, the youngest, had struggled the most.
I’d always known God had a special plan for Jonathan. The shaping and molding by God has been fierce, intentional and deliberate. But today, he ironed.
I plugged the iron in the outlet, leaned against the doorframe, and watched.
As Jonathan moved the iron back and forth across the wrinkled fabric, he ironed out much more than a shirt. He ironed out the wrinkles in his heart, pressed out the pain of life without a dad, smoothed out the hurt of abandonment, and steamed out the stubborn creases of years of questions. Why did dad leave? Why wasn’t I worth sticking around for? Why wasn’t I worth the effort? Why was I more affected by the abandonment than my siblings?
He ironed.
He pressed.
He talked.
I watched.
I listened.
I prayed.
When we see someone going through a struggle, especially our children, the natural instinct is to jump and try to fix it. But what if that struggle is the very thing God is using to grow them, to strengthen them, to build their character. If that’s the case, then our interference may stunt their spiritual growth.
James wrote: Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4 NLT).
So let it grow. And we must let it grow in other people too. Perhaps we’ve stepped in where we should have stepped out. Friend, we were never meant to try to fix what only God can fully restore.
Sometimes the wisest thing we can do is step out of God’s way and let Him work. Our role is to pray for God to do what only God can do.
Twenty minutes later, Jonathan finished ironing. One shirt. One heart.
“God has done so much for me and in me,” he explained. “It has taken a long time, but He is healing me. He is mending my heart. I’m ready to move on now. More than my dad coming home to me, I pray that he will come home to Jesus. That’s what I want more than anything.”
You know, I could have said, “Hey, let me just iron that shirt for you.” I could have finished the job in two minutes or less. But this was not about ironing a shirt. This was about pressing out the rumpled creases in a young man’s heart. I couldn’t do that. Only God could. Jonathan needed to hold the iron of God’s love and move it back-and-forth, back-and-forth until the rumpled mess was smoothed. My job was to watch. To listen. To pray.
How about you? Is there someone in your life that has a wrinkled wounded heart? Have you yanked the healing tool of God’s love out of His hand and tried to iron out his or her problems yourself? Did you ever consider that you might be standing in the way of what God is trying to do? I say this only because I have…many times.
Jonathan wears his mending heart well. That doesn’t mean that it won’t need a touch up pressing when daily life ruffles up the fabric of his heart from time to time. But I have every confidence that God who began a good work in him will complete it. (See Philippians 1:6)
And the shirt? It looked pretty good.
Is there a person who you’ve been trying to fix that you need to hand over to God? Leave their first name or initials in the comments section as declaration!
Dear Lord, forgive me for trying to fix other people’s problems when they are not mine to fix. Today, I’m committing to watch, to listen, to pray, and to love. Help me not to get in Your way of what You are doing in someone else’s life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Digging Deeper
As a mom or a grandmother, the best thing we can do for our children and grandchildren is pray! But sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what to pray. Here’s some good news, when we pray the Word of God, we pray the Will of God. Praying for Your Child from Head to Toe is a 30-Day Guide to powerful and effective Scripture-based prayer. Starting at the head and the thoughts they think, to the mouth and the words they speak, all the way down to their feet and the path they take, this book covers 16 areas of a child’s life for 30 days. It’s not a one-time-read, but a book you’ll refer to time and time again. Here’s just a sample:
The Mind: What He/She Thinks About
You will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stays on you, because he trust in you. Isaiah 26:3 ESV
Dear Lord, I pray my child’s mind will stay on You today and be at peace—that his/her thoughts will not be tangled up in troubles, but calm in holy confidence. May he/she know You are in control and have his/her best interest at heart.
The Eyes: What He/She Looks At
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6
I pray my child will not be tempted to sin by what is pleasing to the eye, but strong to resist the lure of the enemy.
The Ears : Who and What He/She Listens To
You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws – that you will listen to him. Deuteronomy 26:17
I pray my child will declare this day that the LORD is his/her God and walk in obedience to Him. I pray he/she will listen to Your voice speaking to his/her heart—that he/she will turn away from any voices of this world, the flesh or the devil and turn toward voices that are consistent with Your teaching and Your Word.
