Heidi Viars

“Hey mom, this dinner is excellent! Did you follow the recipe?”
His face tried to hide a mischievous smile. He amazed me with his teenage gift of stating the obvious without getting in trouble. And in this case, I have to admit (and please no one tell him), he was right. Instructions are not my favorite. As a matter of fact, I dislike them. Recipes, manuals, prescriptions, maps, and tutorials rarely make it onto my stack of readings. Plans are incredibly free-thinker unfriendly. They slow me down. I much rather get it done.

My husband calls me strong-headed, especially when he finds me in the middle of striving to impress my Abba, Father without a plan. How often have I tried to amaze Him by running ahead and busting into unfamiliar territory, without a map? “I can do it, God!”

While I was watching the birds fly in and out of the feeders in the early morning stillness, His voice calmed my anxious heart …

“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
(Psalm 46:10).

Abba, Father,
I can’t impress You with my works.
I hold no knowledge that You don’t already have.
I own nothing that You did not give to me first. 
I possess nothing that would ascribe more beauty to You. 
Nothing makes me lovely in Your eyes,
EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST

Teach me to submit and surrender my own plans to Yours.
Show me what it means to trust in Jesus Christ
and His finished work for me on the cross.
Help me to rest in this amazing love for me.
Help me to cease striving for my own glory.
But instead help me to know that You are God.
Yes, You will be exalted among the nations.
Yes, You will be exalted in the earth.”
(Heidi Viars, 2013)