{"id":1341,"date":"2011-02-13T08:59:52","date_gmt":"2011-02-13T14:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2013-12-07T12:12:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-07T18:12:22","slug":"twirl-025-21211","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/lessons\/twirl-025-21211","title":{"rendered":"TWIRL 025: Experience of Letting Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Week In Recovery Lesson<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Experience of Letting Go<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Abraham of the Old Testament had finally received the blessing of the promised son. He had toiled for years, agonizing over the unmet expectation he had that God would make it possible for Abraham\u2019s barren wife Sarah to become pregnant fulfilling God\u2019s promise. At one point, Abraham compromised waiting for God\u2019s promise, and ventured on his own at the request of his wife, Sarah, to impregnate his wife\u2019s maidservant Hagar. Abraham perceived that this was necessary to have the promised son through her to carry on his family\u2019s legacy. Hagar did indeed have a son who we know to be Ishmael. Abraham\u2019s choice to be with Hagar was about going his own way\u2014his clever idea to carry out the will of God; in actuality, independent of the purposeful will of God. His choice still carries severe consequences to this day as the root of the conflict in the Middle East. Abraham\u2019s son Isaac, the promised son of God, would be born from Sarah some fifteen years later.<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n

\"\"<\/a>Abraham was then reminded by God who his son belonged to. According to the story in Genesis 22, Abraham was ordered to bring his son Isaac to the mountainous region of Moriah to prepare an offering to be sacrificed unto God. At one point young Isaac even got curious and asked, \u201cWhere is the lamb for the burnt offering?\u201d Abraham told Isaac that God would provide it. Then, once the altar was built, Isaac was bound and laid onto the altar to be sacrificed. Just then, the Angel of the Lord called out to Abraham and presented to him the lamb that was to be sacrificed instead of Isaac. It would be through Isaac\u2019s son Jacob that the nation of Israel would be born.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was an exercise in letting go and committing to recovery God\u2019s way. God did not change his mind about Isaac. The human sacrifice of Isaac was never God\u2019s intention. Abraham needed to learn that everything is God\u2019s. All that Abraham possessed was given to him by God. God is in authority and control and has the power over everything. We must learn this as well. It is not that God merely claims everything; it is all his, period. God, on the other hand wants so much to freely give to us all of that which is his. When God then does bless us, we have a tendency to give way to sin and patterns of sinful behavior, therefore, corrupting and perverting the provisional blessings and prosperity of God. Each time this sequence occurs, we\u2019re in trouble. Our lives get complicated through our selfishly ambitious sinful nature. Abraham\u2019s life became difficult as well as he became impatient in his faith in God to provide and did things his own way. Abraham needed to let go of his desire for a son and let God do rightly what only God can do rightly. When God does a thing it is the best thing.<\/span><\/p>\n