Some of you have responded to my request to share your Whole Life Worship experiences with our blog community. Thanks! This one comes from Lynne:

This past weekend I had way too much responsibility on my plate.  They were all good things to do for other people. The only problem was that they all needed to be completed at the same time!  But, I took it in stride and made a “to-do list” where I prioritized each task in order of their importance.  However, as it turned out, item #1 took much longer than I expected.

I was in charge of bringing a centerpiece to an event. It sounded simple enough. “I’m kind of a creative person,” I thought to myself. “I could make it myself!” But after many attempts (searching on the internet, making several trips to the store, even asking my husband for some help) nothing worked.  I was frustrated, out of time, and nothing else on my list had been accomplished.  I felt the tension deep in my shoulder muscles and the pain of a headache had come to visit.

 It was then I realized that I had a choice to honor God with a genuine heart or not.  So, I sat down on the couch and refused to do another thing until I was able to reconnect with God intimately and turn this issue over to him.  This was difficult, knowing that I was running out of time and not knowing if or how God would respond.

But God is so good. As I waited for him, he grabbed my heart and pulled me close to him. Then he told me, “Let go of the list!” So I turned my hands over and the to-do list fell to the floor. Immediately, my shoulders relaxed and my headache went away. Then my husband said that it would be ok with him if I bought some flowers instead.

After that, God took every single other item on the list and graciously weaved them into the events of the day – totally unplanned by me! They were all accomplished within a couple of hours! 

This was one success story, but there are about 50+ years of failure stories behind it. I’ve had to learn the hard way that trying to do all the good things that I think would please God is not the same as doing what God wants me to do. In these situations, I need to stop what I’m doing, seek a close connection to God, and listen for his voice. As I hear his voice, I can then take his appropriate action, knowing that I am worshiping him, one step at a time, with a life that is pleasing to him.

Whole Life Worship is more than giving God “lip-service.” It is the actual surrender of our lives so that we walk in step with what God wants – even when we think have a good plan!

Thanks so much, Lynne! What a great encouragement and reminder!

How about the rest of you? Got a good Whole Life Worship story to share? Email me at wholelifeworship@gmail.com