Releasing the Need to Do It All

Have you ever felt like the list of roles placed on you was more than you could bear? Take a moment to think of each role that is placed on you, you may be surprised how long the list can get. It can become very overwhelming with the many directions we are pulled in and the expectations we are asked to achieve each day. One of the many roles you may have can be a huge responsibility in and of itself, let alone with them all combined. Sometimes the roles that have been placed on us feel like too many to bear. We don’t want to let others down by not being able to achieve what is expected of us.

I’m the type of person that I don’t ever want to be “needy” and I have always struggled admitting my need for help. I want to be perceived as capable, equipped and sufficient. After my father passed away, I watched my mother take on the role of two parents to raise her two young daughters. I grew up watching her needing to take on many responsibilities, now fulfilling the role as a mother and father, handling it with such grace and dignity. As a young child, I saw a mother who would “do it all,” while I failed to realize, she was continually relying on God for support, all along the way. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized I watched my mom most of my life and I believed the lie that I need do it all on my own.

Sadly enough, I never considered myself taking on the role of God, but it is ever so true. I try to control my life, planning everything out to the tiniest detail, flustered when things go differently than planned and worried when problems arise that I am unable to fix. I can take on way more than I can handle most days, feeling the need to fulfill all the tasks expected of me without admitting my need for help. How often I forget to go to God in each task and admit my need for His (or other’s) help. No matter the task and my experience, I am not capable without Him. It’s freeing to know that with God I can be needy. In fact, Philippians 4:6-7 commands we go to God with our needs, requests and prayers.

I have allowed the endless roles that have been placed on me to make my heart weary and anxious, because keeping up with everything can be ever so exhausting. My anxiety has overtaken the trust I need to be placing in my capable God. I don’t have to do it all on my own. I can submit my needs to God, surrendering them to Him to control, better than I ever could accomplish with my own strength. I’ve been slowly learning how to surrender to God when I can’t physically accomplish or handle every burden placed on me. It’s been a harder struggle than it seems, but when I can pray and submit my worries to Him, admitting my weakness and need for Him to intervene, it is freeing. I don’t have to be capable. I don’t have to be able to meet everyone’s expectations. I don’t have to do it all on my own. God can be there to help when I can’t. He can be my strength when I’m depleted.

Over the past year, God has called me to some new challenging roles that were way out of my comfort zone. Things I never dreamed I would ever do, but God had incredibly different plans. It was through those opportunities, where I felt so unequipped, that God displayed His ultimate power. I was well aware of my weakness, unable to be qualified for the job at hand, but I know God helped me overcome, only through His strength. It’s encouraging to know that through every difficult circumstance, when it feels like nobody understands the pain, heartache or courage it takes, God does. He saw. He knows. When I didn’t know how I would ever pull through or have the strength to make it one more day, He still provided.

It was never my role to control. It was never my role to be all-present. It was never my role to fulfill every expectation. It was never my role to have it “all-together.” What I need to remind myself is that….

When you feel like you’ve been given more than you can handle, give it to God. It’s best in His hands. Worry, anxiety and your ability to do it all on your own will not resolve the issues, but submitting them to God in prayer will.

A song has been a big encouragement to me during this season of learning to rely on God. It has helped me to surrender my worries and release my control so I can be who God created me, while remembering God should always be the one who is in control of my life, not me.