By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

I have a reoccurring dream.

There is some sort of crisis–I’m late for school, I’ve got to get to work, a family member is hurt, I’m being chased by a crazed killer–and suddenly, everything that was so easy before becomes abnormally difficult.

Without explanation, I can’t see anything. My eyes won’t open more than a squint. From what I see of people around me, it looks as if they’re speaking to me but my ears are too stuffed up to hear. I’m running, or at least I’m supposed to be, but my feet are like cinder blocks and my legs are weak. I feel like all of my strength is being poured into the act of running, and yet I feel like I’m not going anywhere.

I look behind me and see the killer gaining on me or I check my watch and find that I’m 15 minutes late for school or work. In each of these dreams, I find myself saying, “I can’t do it! I can’t do it! My eyes, I can’t see. I can’t hear. I can’t run. I can’t do it!”

With a start, I awake from my dream.

It’s because of dreams like this that I believe dreams mirror real life.

There are times in which I feel just as helpless as I do in that dream. I feel like my eyes are glued shut, my ears are stuffed with cotton, and my feet are encased in cement. I feel like life is the killer that is stalking behind me and I’m unable to do anything to stop it from consuming me. There are situations in my life in which I’m forced to cry out, “I can’t do it!”

Those words speak volumes. There’s a lot of worry, anxiety, desperation, hopelessness, and sadness balled up in such a statement. And yet, it’s more than that. It’s a confession. It’s almost repentant. It speaks of humility.

I can’t do it.

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).

This is how we can find peace in the midst of our chaotic lives. This is how we can be lifted up from the valley of our circumstances. This is how our anxiety and stress can flee like darkness when the light is flipped on.

It is by admitting, “I can’t do it”. It’s stepping out of the driver’s seat and allowing God to take control. It’s by emptying ourselves and our situations of anything to do with ME and leaving room for His Spirit. It’s by humbling ourselves under His mighty hand that we can be lifted up.

In due time.

In His timing, not yours. By His plan, not yours. What He requires, not you. On His terms, not yours.

Cast off your anxiety. Why are you holding on to it? You aren’t in charge anymore. You don’t have control of your circumstances any longer. Why are you still anxious? You’ve stepped out from behind the helm and let Him take your place.

You’re right. You couldn’t do it. But He can.

So let Him.