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Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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Speaker 2: You're listening to Everyday Prayers with Million Praying Moms helping you pray God's word for your family in the areas you need it most. I'm your host, Nicolette Bell. Here we believe prayer isn't a last resort. It's our first and best response in parenting, and every day we come together to partner with God for the hearts of our children. Today's devotion is written and read by Doris Swift, author of the Bible study Surrender the Joy Stealers Rediscover the Jesus Joy in you. In today's episode, Doris shares about longing to belong. We've all been there, haven't we, and it's something we often see our children struggle with as well. To learn more about Doris or the Million Praying Mom's ministry, visit Millionprayingmoms dot com. You can find a link in our show notes. After a quick word from our sponsors, we'll pray together for our children.
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Speaker 3: I'm the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I and him he it is that bears much fruit for Apart from me, you can do nothing. John fifteen five. A light rain turned to Wrenchell as I drove home from work several years ago. As I approached an intersection I driven through hundreds of times. I panicked when the light turned yellow, and instead of sailing through it, I hit the brakes. My blue Plymouth Belorure skated across the center line. The tire treads no match for the slick pavement.
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Speaker 1: How does that go?
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Speaker 3: Steer into the skid or away from it? It happened so fast, and as much as I tried, I couldn't gain control. I hidroplanes sideways toward the car on my left and braced myself for impact. Then something miraculous happened. Instead of crashing into that poor sitting duck on my left, my valaries swerved right at the last second and missed a collision by a hair. I have no doubt divine intervention carried me through that intersection to the other side without so much as a scratch to my car or anyone else's. I thank the Lord all the way home. Just like my out of control hydroplanning car, joy stealers can threaten to overtake us, making us swerve in all directions. They tell us to white knuckle the wheel and try steering our own lives until things go awry, and then they tell us we're the ones out of control. Those life draining events threatening to steal our joy can attempt to derail us like a runaway train or a hydro planning car on wet pavement. Here's the good news. Jesus has the answer to this whole controlling thing, and we need not feel out of control because control is not our role. It's his. Jesus establishes our role in John fifteen. He is the vine and we are the branches. Isn't that refreshing? Still, as moms, we can sometimes struggle with the letting go of control. Amen. Gripping the wheel of life tightly and trying to control outcomes is a slippery slope. And do you know how that slippery slope slide happens when we don't realize we're trying to control everything. I never considered myself the controlling type. I don't have a take charge personality, and God bless those who do, but I don't. This is what I do have, the desire to make everyone else's lives better. As women, we have been blessed with the gift of nurturing. Not every woman nurtures the same way, and that's okay. But if we're not careful, the positive trait of nurturing can turn into people pleasing as quickly as we can say oh snap. I used to be the girl picking up the slack and saying yes before considering whether God wanted me to say us, because perhaps he wanted me to say no. I confuse my people pleasing ways with serving others, which can be a form of control. What I was doing was controlling my life by putting myself last on every level. I wanted to keep everything peaceful and running smoothly. That can wear a person out. You two, have you ever struggled with keeping all the balls in the air and all the plates spinning? Here's a dose of encouragement for you. Control is not your job or mine, and it's okay if one of those plates crashes to the floor. Perhaps it's a plate we were never meant to spin in the first place. So how do we release our need to control? Surrender? But what does surrendering truly, totally and completely mean. Do we wave a white flag, crawl under our beds and defeat? On the contrary, surrender equals victory, not defeat. When our active surrender is to God. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for reminding us that you are the vine and we the branches. Help us to abide in you daily, and to remember it's not our role to control, and apart from you, we can do nothing. May we bear much fruit, be a light that shines brightly, say yes when the yes is meant for us, and allow your joy in us to overflow and pour out over our families as we surrender all to you in Jesus's name. Amen.
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Speaker 2: May is the month to celebrate moms and we've updated our mom shop just in time with some of our favorite resources. Be sure to check out our updated shop at Million Prayingmoms dot com, forward slash Shop, or click shop from our homepage. Until next time, friends, the Lord bless you and keep you. Make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.