May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, ~ Ephesians 3:17 AMPC

At the beginning of this year, God took me on a deep dive into Philippians 4:4-7. Verse 4 talks about taking your requests to God. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast the whole of our care on the Lord. It sounds easy enough to cast our cares on God. The struggle is leaving your cares with Him, making room in your heart, mind, and life for God to move as He will.

Making room feels a lot like walking a small child through an antique shop and telling him, “Don’t touch!” But that’s exactly what he—and we—want to do. We want to be hands-on, to figure things out, and determine why things aren’t working. We want to “help” things along because we’re impatient.

But…

• But the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.
• But God gave an imperative command: “[You] cast your cares on the Lord.”

This is not a game of catch, where you toss your prayers to God and He tosses them right back, unaltered.

Making room for God to move is to take the whole of your cares and throw them, with all your might, into God’s glove, knowing that when He closes His mitt around them, His intention is to work on them. It’s hard to let go, but He wants you to leave space in your thinking and in your relationship with Him.

What you don’t see is His work on them in the spiritual realm, while also working on your thoughts and heart. Making room for God to move is hard when we spend all our time watching for the results. Instead, we ought to be celebrating God, the result Maker and Changer.

Today is a great day to humble yourself before the Lord. Submit your will and plans for these cares fully to Him. Make room in your heart and life for Holy Spirit to take up residence. Give Him the freedom to do whatever He wants in and through your life. Trust that His thoughts and His ways are higher, (Isaiah 5:9).