Backseat Driver | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Lifestyle

Backseat Driver

Why do we try to control our lives so strongly?

28
Backseat Driver
www.8tracks.com

Why is it that God is the last person we tend to seek help from when He should be the very first? I found that I am most susceptible to seeking Him when I’m at a low point in my life; when I’m desperate and vulnerable. It happens relatively quickly and it’s become something that’s beginning to really bother me because I know it’s wrong. When I ask for something, when I seek help, when I beg for mercy, it’s all when it’s convenient for me. Am I listening to Him? Am I hearing His plan for me? Am I demonstrating any degree of perseverance towards his trials in order to make me a better person?

It’s almost as if I’ve made God a backseat driver. I’ll control my life and where I go and what I do but when I’m lost, I’ll look to Him for help. I’ll ask for guidance, for navigational assistance. Whenever I am fearful or anxious and ask God for help, I feel bad. There’s this deeply embedded feeling of guilt that I can’t escape from because I know that I’m doing it again. That I’m only seeking Him because I need to right now. When things were fine earlier, He was the last thing on my mind. When things are good, I don’t tend to give him credit and when things do go badly, I blame him for making my life hard. Why are we like this?

I have yet to truly find an answer to this nagging feeling but I know without a doubt that feeling of remorse is a sign from Him. He wants me to feel this way and make an effort to change. To turn to Him, during times of rejoice and times of sorrow. To give Him glory, but to also give Him my burdens. As Jesus once said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If we truly believed this, we would have no trouble turning to him and leaving our anxieties and worries with Him, for He knows best and wouldn’t burden us with more than He knows we can bear.

I’m still trying my best to become merely a passenger in my life. To trust in the best driver, God himself, that where my destination is and the route we take to get there is nothing short but the best. It’s not easy entrusting your life to someone, but when that someone is all powerful, all knowing, and all seeing, why shouldn’t it be? We should all make steps towards submitting ourselves to God and letting him steer the path we walk on and should His plan for us align with our desires, so be it. But don’t only search for Him during the times it doesn’t and always find reasons to give Him praise instead. I guarantee you, you can find some even when you absolutely think otherwise.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
man wearing white top using MacBook
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

College is super hard. Between working, studying, and having a social life, it feels like a struggle to just keep afloat.

I understand. When you feel like your drowning and there's no way to stay afloat I understand that it feels like everyone else is doing just fine. I understand all the frustration, long nights in the library, and that feeling that you want to just throw in the towel. I understand that sometimes it's too hard to get out of bed because your brain is already filled with too much information to remember. I understand because I am also feeling pretty burnt out.

Keep Reading...Show less
No Matter How Challenging School Gets, You Have To Put Your Health First — A Degree Won't Mean Anything If You're Dead
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

Some of the best advice I've ever received was from my social studies teacher in sophomore year of high school. He stated, "If you don't know it at midnight, you're not going to know it for the 8 a.m. exam, so get some sleep."

It's such a simple piece of advice, but it holds so much accuracy and it's something that the majority of college students need to hear and listen to. "All-nighters" are a commonality on college campuses in order to cram in studying for an exam that is typically the next day.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Warnings About College To Incoming Freshmen As Told By Gifs

College is hard, but you will make it through.

413
college just ahead sign
Wordpress

1. You will have that special "college" look to you.

2. You will feel like an adult but also feeling like a child.

3. You will have classes that are just the professor reading from their lecture slides for an hour.

4. You will need to study but also want to hang out with your friends.

5. Coffee is your best friend.

6. You don't know what you're doing 99% of the time.

7. You will procrastinate and write a paper the night before it is due.

8. Money is a mythical object.

9. It is nearly impossible to motivate yourself to go to classes during spring.

10. The food pyramid goes out the window.

11. You will have at least one stress induced breakdown a semester.

12. Most lecture classes will bore you to tears.

13. You will not like all of your professors.

14. You will try to go to the gym... but you will get too lazy at some point.

15. When you see high school students taking tours:

16. You will try to convince yourself that you can handle everything.

17. Finals week will try to kill you.

18. You won't like everyone, but you will find your best friends sooner or later.

19. You actually have to go to class.

20. Enjoy it, because you will be sad when it is all over.

Obsessive Thoughts Keep My Brain Stuck On A Loop And Me Stuck On My Couch
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Sometimes my brain just starts turning on an idea and it doesn't want to stop.

I don't know if it is related to my anxiety, perfectionism or depression. I don't know why it happens. It's frustrating, it's painful and it stops me from functioning.

Keep Reading...Show less
girl with a hat

This is for the girls who have dealt with an emotionally, mentally, physically or verbally abusive father.

The ones who have grown up with a false lens of what love is and how relationships should be. The ones who have cried themselves to sleep wondering why he hurts you and your family so much. This is for all the girls who fall in love with broken boys that carry baggage bigger than their own, thinking it's their job to heal them because you watched your mother do the same.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments