Making Peace With What I Can't Control {Review}

 

Bestselling author, Lysa Terkeurst offers an alternative to the frantic control mindset we can sometimes fall into.  She offers up a path for releasing what is already out of our control anyways.  Control isn't always motivated from a bad place.  Often we see the choices our loved ones are making, and we know the outcome can only bring heart ache.  So it starts with a little worry... a small comment... a desire to help them find a healthier path.  Before we know it, we're sucked into their chaos, trying to get them on the right track, our minds in an absolute mess.  If only we could find the right words... the right conversation... the perfect illustration to show them how destructive their choices are... And we find the joy and peace being sucked out of our lives in an attempt to bring health to someone who doesn't want to be healthy.  

So what's the answer?

In Making Peace with What I Can't Control, Terkeurst helps her readers find the balance between concern and control.  She identifies the fears that drive many of us, contrasts healthy relationships with controlling ones, and wrestles honestly with the Lord and His will.  Most helpfully, she not only helps her readers identify the patterns, but also offers real life strategies for how to get out of them.

This book was so helpful for me.  It can be difficult when faced with challenging relationships.  Where is the line between being a wise voice in someone's life and crossing over to control?  And what do you do when you realize you have crossed that boundary?  Not only does the author walk through common controlling issues, but also the deep underlying motivation: fear.  I think this is one of the most commonly overlooked parts of control... how do we allow others to make their own choices when their choices could have devastating effects on us?  So often our culture encourages us to cut them out of our lives, but some relationships are more complicated than that.  Terkeurst acknowledges this and equips her readers with real ways to handle these delicate situations.

Honest, real, candid... this book is helping me let go and place these individuals in God's hands.  That's not to say that it's easy.  Real letting go takes time.  That's why I'll be reading this book again.  Filled with Scripture and deep wisdom, I know that Making Peace With What I Can't Control will be a lasting tool in so many lives.  Highly recommended.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.  All opinions are my own.