Throughout August, we expect our minds to be blown in the best way, with overwhelming amounts of blessings. It’s easy to think pessimistically and expect the worst, but this month and moving forward, I am choosing to see the good in today and every day. Even in the challenges and difficulties, I will find the good in them. So let’s get into it. I’ve been thinking about the concept of “focus on what you can control.” Everyone says it, and it’s even become a trendy tagline, but let’s really talk about it instead of leaving it up for interpretation. I’m learning that focusing on what I can control only comes from a place of complete surrender and trust in God and His will for my life. If we peel back every layer, that’s what lies at the center. A friend of mine said it best when she paralleled surrender to God as a complete trust fall and believing He will catch you. I also believe that in order to focus on what we can control, we must let go of trying to artificially create our desired outcomes. We have to release the outcomes. We also have to release yesterday’s failures or reroutes in our lives.

“And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.”

Exodus 14:15 NKJV

Think of it like a GPS. If you’re going on a road trip and following your GPS to your desired destination, and you make a wrong turn, the GPS simply reroutes you. Now imagine if you spent an hour trying to go back, just so you could be on the original route, only to realize you can’t recreate the original route because it’s gone and replaced by a new one. You’re still going to reach your destination; it’s just a different route now. And to add to that, you’ve wasted time, so it’s taking even longer to get there, and for most of the road trip, you cry over losing the old route. You see, this used to be my problem. I used to focus on the route that was lost, the life I was supposed to have, the relationships and friendships that were gone. I would grieve them for so long, much longer than necessary, and not accept that I had been divinely rerouted, even when it was due to my own mistakes. Yet everything is still working together for my good. God factored in the messes I would make along the way. The destination is set, the GPS may reroute us, but it’s still the exact plan He had for you all along. This is what focusing on what you can control means to me: releasing the outcome and trusting that everything is part of the story God penned from the beginning. I can’t focus on the relationships I’ve lost because that takes away from the time I could be present with those God has placed in my life today. I can’t focus on opportunities I’ve lost, even due to my own negligence, but I can focus on the opportunities I have now. I can’t focus on the past; it happened, but I can focus on the route I’m currently on. The destination is set, and I’m okay if the route changes again, because I know it’s all working for my good.

“Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”

1 Samuel 16:1 NLT

You have mourned enough over what has been lost and the reroute. It is now time to move forward and follow the GPS. Be blessed and be a blessing.