By Cosette Snarr
I spent years of my life trying to change a situation that I found unacceptable in my life. I’d had plenty of previous opportunities in other areas to work hard and produce desired results, but this particular situation wasn’t cooperating. I was angry and frustrated by my lack of control and therefore was miserable most of the time.
I’d been asking God for help to fix this terrible wrong and felt I’d been totally forgotten by Him. One day I just got tired of the fight and went to Him in all humility and said, “I can’t keep going on like this. I don’t want to be unhappy any longer and obviously the situation isn’t going to change. Please help me handle my life with grace and let go of the resistance.”
It was amazing to me how quickly things changed when I stopped insisting everything go my way. Almost without effort I became happy. People commented on how different I looked. I knew it was because God had changed my heart. It was also when I discovered what I have come to call power versus force.
Spencer W. Kimball said, “When threatened, we become anti-enemy instead of pro-kingdom of God . . . We forget that if we are righteous the Lord will either not suffer our enemies to come upon us . . . or He will fight our battle for us.”
When I read that statement I thought how I fought against what was happening in my life, rather than turning to God for guidance. I was more interested in being right than being guided. I was trying to force something and as long as I maintained that attitude I was preventing myself from harnessing the power I could receive from God to deal with the situation. James Allen says we fight against circumstances by “continually revolting against an effort without, while all the time we are nourishing and preserving its cause in our heart.” To me that means force and that’s what I was doing. Not only does it not work, it is exhausting!
There are two ways to harness power and they work together. One way is through our thoughts. Our thoughts are powerful and when they are in line with what we want we attract that thing to us, whether it is something tangible or a solution to a problem. The second way is to go up instead of out, meaning turning to God in all things first before trying to tackle a problem. To me this is the most important step because when something is right God can help us change our thoughts.
Anytime I feel I’m on my own in doing something I know I’m forcing an issue. In my mind that’s usually a sign that pride is involved. When I step back and turn to God I’m in power, allowing myself and my thoughts to be guided by Him.
Ever since I came to this realization my life has taken a drastic turn. The most interesting thing is the situation I thought needed changing actually changed. It was then I realized it wasn’t really the reason I was miserable. It had been my thinking all along. God helped me see that. Power versus force is how I evaluate things now and it works.
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