09 Jan Who is in Charge? by Iliana Clauson
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
For a Lion/Beaver person like myself (according to Smalley’s personality test), I love being in charge and I enjoy
making plans. I want to know exactly where I am headed, and how I am going to get there, from point A to point B.
A new year, is a new challenge: I want to plan my entire year, and I even have a calendar with the dates and events
planned out for the year. And this is perfectly okay, if it wasn’t for the fact that as a Christian that loves the Lord and
wants to please God, I constantly struggle with surrendering my will to His. I find myself fighting the desire to plan
my life and my husband’s life and my children’s lives and surrender my own agenda to adopt God’s agenda.
Although it might seem an oxymoron, Jeremiah 29:11 it is unquestionably, one of my favorite Bible verses of all time,
and it is also one that I find most challenging. I see that even though God has given me an ability to lead and plan,
His plan is always far better than the best plan I might be able to come up with.
One of the challenges for us Lion/Beavers is to let God show us his plan step by step. The Lion wants to be in charge,
the Beaver wants to see the road ahead mapped out. However, if I take time to reflect on the meaning of what being
in charge is: to have command, to have supervisory power, I realize that this kind of being in charge is way beyond
my ability to lead or my desire to command.
This type of being in charge belongs to the one that surrendered his crown to become a servant and that came to this
earth to serve me and you and not to be served. It is the kind of command that I can surrender to, that I can trust my
life and my family to. It brings me the kind of reassurance that although I might not see the beginning to the end, I
know the end result will be perfect, because He is the one in control. I can reflect on the previous years, and
although the times might not have been clear and laid out for me to see where He was leading me, the outcome was
great, because it was His plan. I can see that the road we have travelled, it was mapped out by Him, and although I
was tempted to take shortcuts or detours that were appealing, His road was the road to victory and experience. Oh
how have I learned by trusting Him every step of the way!
I thank God that His grace and love have taught me to surrender my will and my desire to be in charge for His Will.
That wherever His will has taken my family, His grace has protected us.
It is with confidence that I can say: He is the one in charge!