{"id":22,"date":"2009-08-01T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-01T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amysmic\/?p=22"},"modified":"2019-10-13T16:50:02","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T20:50:02","slug":"the-blessed-controller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/?p=22","title":{"rendered":"Blessed Controller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My Pastor\u2019s wife reminded a group of women this spring that God is the Blessed Controller of all things. Early the next morning, I was working diligently in the office when our dog decided to scratch his neck in the doorway of Lillie\u2019s bedroom, where she was still sleeping. His collar bounced around with the tags ringing out like a loud bell for what seemed an eternity. I mean, how long does it take to scratch an itch!?! I was greatly annoyed at the thought of him waking her up prematurely&#8211;not necessarily for her rest, but for my work! I then remembered, \u201cGod is the Blessed Controller of all things.\u201d Yes! I believe this is true. How can I grumble and complain over something so silly? Maybe the Lord wanted Lillie up. She did not awaken, but it\u2019s as if I did. Though it goes against human nature to let go of the reins, I was reminded that I need to abandon the fleshly desire to be in control of all things.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once when Patrick and I took a dance class, the instructor immediately ridiculed me for trying to lead my partner. Instead, I needed to let him lead. Not only was this true on the dance floor that day, but in our daily roles as husband and wife. And it is true of Christ, my Bridegroom. In this dance called life, Jesus orchestrates my steps.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I fear I spend most days searching for a way to control this or that. Christ holds my hand, yet I step out in front of Him as if to lead Him in a better direction. This image brings me great sorrow. For He is Teacher, Comforter, Healer, Creator and Possessor of all, All-knowing, All-powerful, All-sufficient, and is the Blessed Controller of all things. Sigh. Thank You, Jesus, that I can breathe a big sigh of relief knowing You hold the reins.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The steps of a man are established by the LORD,<br \/>\nAnd He delights in his way.<br \/>\nWhen he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,<br \/>\nBecause the LORD is the One who holds his hand<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>(Psalm 37:23-24).<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My Pastor\u2019s wife reminded a group of women this spring that God is the Blessed Controller of all things. Early the next morning, I was working diligently in the office when our dog decided to scratch his neck in the doorway of Lillie\u2019s bedroom, where she was still sleeping. His collar bounced around with the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/?p=22\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Blessed Controller&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":809,"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amyandpatrickfata.com\/amyspen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}