I heard this last night from my prayer warrior friend, Amy, and I just had to share.

If you’re going to worry, why pray? If you’re going to pray, why worry?

Isn’t that great?!? Today I am praying and not worrying! Why don’t you do the same?

I am a person of emotional extremes. I can be up, bouncy, and perky one minute, and the slightest shift in the space-time continuum has me waaaaayyyy…doooowwwnnn…looowwwww the next minute. It’s really quite exhausting.

I seem to do everything in extremes, actually. For instance, I’m never just hot…I’m ROASTING! That’s what we genteel women here in the South call it. Please excuse me while I take a brief pause to fan myself. Whew! Okay, I feel better.

And if one is not hot but roasting, then, one is certainly never cold but FREEEEZING! Yep, that would be me. From one extreme to another.

I do not see tasks in small, manageable portions. I see GIANT, OVERWHELMING, MONUMENTAL, IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCOMPLISH tasks.

On the flip side, when I go after something, you guessed it…to the extreme. When I get fired up about something…look out because I am going after it with both barrels!

The thing is, though, I don’t feel like I accomplish very much. I feel like my whole life is one, big unfinished project. Now, I could get theological here and say, “Yes, it is one big unfinished project. ‘God isn’t finished with me yet,’ and all that,” but, that’s not what I’m talking about.

I get really fired up about stuff, jump in like gangbusters, and then the emotional energy, adrenaline, whatever you want to call it, wears off. Then I am as down as I was up. Negativity sets in, and what excited me before depresses me. I think I need help. Anyone know Dr. Phil’s number because quite honestly if he asked me “How’s that working for ya’?” the answer would have to be, “Not very well.”

Here’s the real kicker in all of this. I do this with my spiritual life as well, and it Drives. Me. CRAZY! I posted before about spiritual depletion. It happens to me on a regular basis. And that’s because I allow it to. I get all excited. God’s showing me things. He’s speaking to me through His Word. I get devotions about things I believe He is telling me. A friend mentions a verse I have read. And so on and so forth! It’s exhilarating! And then I crash.

I don’t have my quiet time one morning. And then another. And then another. One morning turns into a week. I go to church, and worship isn’t the same because I feel disconnected. I feel that way because I am.

Fortunately, Hebrews 13:5 states, “…God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'” Whether I am up or I am down, He doesn’t leave me. He’s always with me. When I seek Him, He’s there. When I don’t seek Him, He’s there.

And, therein lies the answer to my emotional extremism. God, Himself. He is the balance. He made me. He knows me. He loves me. He never leaves me. That is enough.

The Women’s Ministry at my church is hosting their annual Spring Fling event next month on April 18-19th. This year, for the first time, we are having Shari Braendel from Proverbs 31 Ministries come to do her Real Beauty Retreat weekend featuring the Modest is Hottest Fashion Show on Friday evening, the 18th.

Many obstacles have come our way in the planning of this event. Another fashion show is going on the same weekend as ours. The department store Shari usually works with is doing the other fashion show and only let us know for certain this past Sunday that they would not be able to provide the clothing for our event. A scheduling conflict that prevents us from using the original location for our fashion show the evening of the dress rehearsal. Just to give you an idea of what has been going on and very recently at that. We are now less than one month before the show!

The events that led to the scheduling conflict caused some hard feelings amongst some involved in the planning, myself included. I was irate, actually. Furious, livid, even. (I’m not known for doing anything half-way, emotions included!) I fumed, I fussed, and as we say in the South, “carried on” quite a bit. I was angry and indignant and felt justified in my feelings.

However, after a meeting on Wednesday night, God used my best friend to remind me of how BIG He is, and that maybe I needed to take a step back and look at things again.

You see, my friend is a prayer warrior and very visual person. She used an illustration several years ago that has stayed with me. I use it time and time again. Only this time, she had to remind me of it because I was too blinded by my emotions to think rationally or to see what God might be doing.

The illustration is this. God has a telescope and can see the big picture. His view is much more vast than our own because we see things through the lens of a microscope and are only capable of seeing the very small image on the slide in front of us.

This reminder shook me with a jolt. Earlier in the afternoon the day of this conversation, I had been talking to Shari about the logistical issues involved with changing things at this late date. I said to her that God must have something really BIG (there’s that word again) planned because with all the issues that were arising, Satan must really not want this event to happen! The truth is, though, I think those were just words. I don’t think I really believed them or took them to heart. I was too focused on the slide underneath my microscope.

After the gentle and loving reminder from my friend, I was finally able to let go of some of the emotions and start asking “why?” had God allowed this to happen rather than focusing so much on the “what.”

Here’s the thing. If we have the fashion show in the location originally intended, we will be limited to about 300 people. Of course, in my mind, this location lends itself more to the “feel” we thought we wanted to achieve for a teen fashion show. However, if we relocate to the other suggested location, we can accommodate approximately 800-1,000 people!

God began to speak to my heart as I starting asking “why?” and stopped focusing on “what?” I realized that God had the telescope, and I had the microscope and perhaps He had something much larger planned than what we had envisioned for this event. Perhaps He allowed this scheduling conflict to happen because we would be limiting what He wanted to do because we are unable to comprehend just how BIG He really is.

I began to believe and still do that God wants us to pray BIG and believe BIG. It’s not enough just to pray that He will do BIG things with this event. We have to BELIEVE that He can and will do BIG things!

To be honest, it’s exciting and frightening all at the same time. The event is less than a month away. It’s going to require a lot of work. We don’t have much time. There are a lot of details to work out.

But, all of that is small compared to my God. He is a BIG GOD! He can do BIG THINGS! My small mind can not even begin to fathom the scope of what He can do. So, I’m going to PRAY BIG and BELIEVE BIG because that’s who my God is, and I don’t want to be the one who limits other’s from seeing and believing that fact as well.

Dear Heavenly Father, You are a mighty, awesome, and BIG God! I love You, and I praise You. I don’t know how all of this is going to work out, but I know that You are able. I know that You can do anything. I thank You for wanting to use us. I thank You for forgiving my hot-headedness and desiring to use me in spite of it. Oh Dear God, take our humble offering and do with it all that You desire and are able to do. I believe, Lord. In Jesus Sweet Name I pray, Amen.

BTW, my dear friend, the prayer warrior, is none other than Amy over at Just Keep Praying. Be sure to check her out.

And,

Would you please pray join us in praying and believing BIG for this event? Thank you.