As someone who is hard-wired to "make it happen", I've had the tendency to forge ahead with my can-do attitude when it comes to getting things done.

After all, I can accomplish a lot in my own power. And in my years of overwhelm, I did accomplish a lot.

But it wasn't pretty.

I struggled.

I strived.

I stressed.

I accomplished a lot of things at the expense of some valuable things.

Don't get me wrong. I believe in taking initiative. I think perseverance is a great quality. I love celebrating accomplishments. And a can-do attitude, in-and-of-itself, isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Yet, there's harsh reality when a can-do attitude becomes a can-do lifestyle, and I learned it firsthand: It's not sustainable. We're human. We can only force so much in our own strength before we max out and burn out.

Not only that...

If we are doing everything in our own power,

are we crowding out our ability to see and experience God's power?

Friends, when I began to practice letting go of my need to control...when I began to make a "can't-do" attitude my Plan A, instead of my last resort on the brink of overwhelm...when I began to take my foot off the gas pedal and recognize that my power is limited...I began to create space in my life to more clearly see and experience God's power to make things happen. And I was finally able to breathe.

That doesn't mean life is easy.

But it does mean I am doing life with more ease.

I believe when we deliberately choose to trade our human power for God's supernatural power, we become power-full!

Letting go of our can-do lifestyle and trusting God to work things out is an invitation to exhale. It's permission to lose the striving. And it's a holy space of awareness where we can grow with the Lord and experience his faithfulness in ways we never could have imagined.

Remember, our power is limited. But God's power is limitless!

*********

Small steps forward: Is there an area of your life where a can-do attitude is suffocating your breathing room? What is one way to implement a can't-do attitude as your Plan A...and begin the practice of letting go and trusting God more in that area?

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9