On Wednesday evenings my wife and the wife of one of our pastors are leading a women’s bible study based on a material by Jennifer Rothschild titled “Walking by Faith”.
In this series Jennifer Rothschild, who became blind in her teenage years, shares her perspective on faith, in a rather special way.
Yesterday my wife was sharing with me a story that Jennifer told in the study:
Her husband is an outdoors person, and he was looking for an activity that they could do together, despite of her blindness.
One day he showed up with a tandem bicycle, and they immediately went out to ride it.
Now just imagine: she is blind, sitting on the back of this bicycle, holding a handle bar that doesn’t really turn, while he is controlling everything from the front.
She described it as a very frustrating experience. She was trying to tell him what to do, asking him why he was going this way or that way, holding the handle bar very tightly as if that would give her any more control.
Control. She was not in control.
She reflected about it after that ride, and concluded she had all the reasons to trust her husband, and give up control. Let him lead.
The next ride was much more enjoyable. She could listen to the waves, feel the wind on her face, smell the flowers, hear children playing…
It took a little longer to loosen the grip on the handlebar, but slowly she made progress.
I too have a problem with control. I like to have control over my circumstances. I have learned to take the lead and solve problems.
Suddenly I am facing situations where I don’t have control.
As I have shared before, I am convinced God wants me to serve Him in a very special way.
But it is not clear what that is.
I believe at this point He is telling me to trust Him, and accept I am not in control.
He is probably breaking me, so He can use me.
I believe I am starting to pay attention to the sound of the waves, and the wind on my face, but I still can not smell the flowers (despite the size of my nose).
Looks like God has some more work to do with me.
