To me, there is nothing scarier than teaching a teenager how to drive.  It was so nerve-wracking being in the car with my kids when they were learning.  Since my husband worked a lot of hours, it was mostly up to me to get the necessary 60 hours of driving completed so they could go from learner’s permit to driver’s license. This picture had the caption “parents will blurt out warnings constantly as you try to drive.”  That was not the case for me.  I couldn’t get my words out.  It was more like I was speaking in tongues.  In my mind, I would be saying, “Watch out for that car!  You’re too close to the mailbox!  Stop!” Instead what would actually come out of my mouth was something like, “Codswallop flummadiddle!” It was terrible…and scary! One day, my son asked me to take him out on the highway.  It was before his lesson with his driving instructor and he was really nervous about going on the highway for the first time with a stranger.  I agreed to help calm his nerves and we hopped in the car.  As he was getting ready to merge into heavy traffic, I reminded him to look over his shoulder to see if it was clear. He did so with such enthusiasm that he banged his head on the window…really hard.  I thought for sure he knocked himself out!  Luckily he was ok and we survived the outing.  Oh the joys of parenthood!

It’s hard when someone else is in control.  I can’t tell you how many times I pumped a brake that didn’t exist (smile). While teaching my kids how to drive, I wasn’t in control of the car.  I didn’t like that.  I can say the same about life in general. There are times things happen that we just can’t control.  It’s easy to say, “God is in control.” But it is completely different living it out.  I’ve needed this reminder lately: Thank goodness!  Sometimes I just need to let go of the control.  It’s easy for it to sneak up on me.  I try to “figure things out” before I even know I’m doing it.  I feel so much better when I turn to God and tell Him that I trust Him to do what is best for me.  Believe me though, there are a lot of questions in that at times.  For instance, having an illness for 20 years with no answers is tough.  It can really drive me crazy sometimes.  If I think about my future, it is hard not to get depressed about it.  20 years is a long time to deal with something.  What if it never goes away??  Sometimes it just takes a leap of faith.  I love that saying.  When I think of the word leap, I just think of completely letting go and taking a big jump (In my mind it’s an elegant jump – smile).  Faith…firm belief in something for which there is no proof.  Leap of Faith.  We aren’t always going to know the answers…but we can look to the One who does.  It’s not always going to be easy.  Sometimes it will seem impossible.  But there is freedom in taking that leap.  Even if we don’t get the answer that we want.

While you are at it…leap into some love…because love matters.