Oct 18, 2025 – Accept
Yesterday Don and I drove to Atlanta to have lunch with my boys (Alex and Davis), their girlfriends, and the mother of Alex’s girlfriend who we hadn’t met yet. This was also our first time to meet Davis’ girlfriend, but (like when I first met Alex’s girlfriend a couple of years ago) it felt like I’d known her all along. Both girls are beautiful and so easy to be with (and so was the mom!) I love seeing my boys together and seeing how happy they are.
I drove while Don worked. He was listening to the news through his headset, and I was listening to a book I downloaded recently that randomly showed up on my Amazon page: The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins. I don’t always get sidetracked by Amazon suggestions, but this book had a green cover, which is my favorite color, and the “let them” phrase peaked my interest; so, I clicked and read about it. It’s actually sort of a brilliant concept. It’s nothing new though; it’s what we all sense when dealing with other people but don’t really know how to act on and carry out. It’s logic; but, when emotions get involved, we’re not always logical.
The book description reminded me of how I felt when I discovered John Gray’s Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Most people instinctively knew what he was saying but we’d never been able to fully articulate our feelings (and our understandings of the opposite sex) quite like he did, especially to our partners. I don’t think it’s only me who, after reading or even just hearing about these two books (and others like them), thinks, “I could have written that.” The saying, “If it was easy everyone would do it,” comes to mind.
I hung that saying on the wall of the house Don and I bought a number of years ago that we remodeled for a business we had hoped to open, but never did due to many extenuating circumstances. It takes a lot of research and determination and follow-through to make things like books and notecards and businesses happen. We thought we had all of the piece-parts for success, but it’s not always about our parts. Other people, and circumstances, can of course affect our plans. But most certainly I believe those plans have to be blessed, and led, by God. (Remember Joyce Meyer and her tomatoes?)
This kind of determination and divine blessing makes me think of the other book I’m listening to right now by Jamie Kern Lima, Believe It. She founded, built, and sold It Cosmetics. That’s a short sentence that doesn’t do justice to what Lima went through to build a successful business, brand, and life. It’s a great book that I’ll be writing about at some point. But back to Gray and Robbins – they both did the research and the studying and figuring and writing and rewriting that most of us wouldn’t/couldn’t have done.
At the beginning of Robbin’s book, she is pointing out how we need to let things go but not just let them go and continue to stew about them. She says if someone makes you mad or hurts your feelings or leaves you out etcetera etcetera you’re supposed to just say to yourself, “let them”. There’s so much more to it than that (thus why she wrote the book) and there’s another piece part even to that phrase, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself if you decide to read the book. Suffice to say, “let them” basically frees us from ruminating over things that we can’t control. Lack of control is what brings on a majority of our stress.
On the drive to Atlanta, I found myself really relating to one particular section in which she was talking about getting started in her motivational speaking business and how fearful she was about advertising it and promoting it. She was confident that she had something valuable to share but she wasn’t confident in how people would receive her when she talked about what she was doing. Some of the things that she questioned and put off doing are the very things that I may need to do for this blog if I’m going to go beyond just writing it for myself (which I’m OK with if that’s all God is using this for in my life). I’m asking You, God, to show me next steps and open/close doors.
Power – Isaiah 40:31 – “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” I’ve been waiting a long time for any of the ideas, that I’ve assumed were inspired by God, to go anywhere beyond my front door; but, perhaps these interests are just things to keep my mind active and fuel my creative side. I just don’t know, but I keep doing what comes across my path to do no matter what it does in the world. “Being an eagle means you want to please God more than you want to please people and that you will make your decisions accordingly. Spending time with God, allowing him to renew your strength, will help with many things….”
You Can Count On God by Max Lucado (Max) – This devotion today really speaks to the heart of the “Let Them” theory. Lucado uses Romans 15:7, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God”, to point out that we should do like Jesus does. People are going to do what they’re going to do and you can’t control it. You can only control you and you can then just love people, like Jesus did.
JA – “When evil [and frustrating people] seems to be flourishing in the world around you, it can look as if things are spinning out of control. But rest assured: I’m not ringing My hands helplessly, wondering what to do next. I am still in control, and there is behind-the-scenes goodness in the midst of the turmoil. So I urge you to thank Me not only for the blessings you can see but for the ones you cannot see.”
Streams – And here is God using this devotion to address my concerns. Cowman leans into thoughts by Charles Gallaudet Trumbull, which are based on Genesis 15:13 – 14 – “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be… mistreated 400 years. But… afterward will come out with great possessions.” Whatever was going on in his life at that time which prompted the thoughts in the devotion, now corelates with what is going on in mine: “God is going to test me with delays, and along with the delays will come suffering. Yet through it all God’s promise stands…. The delays and the suffering are actually part of the promised blessings, so may I praise Him for them today. May I ‘be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.’ (Psalm 27:14)”
JC – “Go gently through this day, keeping your eyes on me. I will open up the way before you, as you take steps of trust along your path. Sometimes the way before you appears to be blocked. If you focus on the obstacle or search for a way around it, you will probably go off course. Instead, focus on Me, the Shepherd who is leading you along your life journey. Before you know it, the “obstacle” will be behind you and you will hardly know you how you pass through it. That is the secret of success in My Kingdom.”
Prevail #291 – “I suddenly sensed that there were countless untapped storehouses in heaven, provisions that had never been claimed, virtues that had never been pursued.” Opportunities He has for me that I can’t see.
Utmost – “Our Lord has told us how love to Him is to manifest itself. “Lovest thou me?… Feed My sheep” – identify yourself with My interest in other people, not, identify Me with your interests in other people.” The desire of my heart in writing these blog posts is for God to speak through me to others. “The loyalty of a missionary is to keep his soul concentratedly open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His enterprises are the ordinary human stuff, plus dominating devotion to Himself wrought by the Holy Ghost.” Again Chambers’ phrasing is a little difficult for me, but I pretty much get the gist. I hope you do too.
