Let Go: Live Free of the Burdens All Women Know

By Sheila Walsh

Burdened. The word alone makes shoulders sink. It slows down our lives. It clouds our vision. It is the heaviness of so many memories, grudges, fears, uncertainty, and stress.

Let go.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)

Let go.

Overworked? Overcommitted? Overtired? Underappreciated?

Let go!

Live free. Sound impossible? Sheila Walsh thought so – until God proved Himself again and again through His Word, His people, and her life.

In Let Go, the best-selling author and speaker walks readers through the journey to freedom in Christ. Along the way, she tackles some of the toughest struggles that weigh women down, answering them with overwhelming truth, promise, and hope. You can lay down your burdens. You can rest. You can find peace. You can live free.

Start here. Let go. And see what God can do.

Includes a study guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Feb 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781400203208

Sheila Walsh

Sheila Walsh is a powerful communicator, Bible teacher, and bestselling author with almost six million books sold. She is the author of the award-winning Gigi, God’s Little Princess series, It’s Okay Not to Be Okay, Praying Women, Holding On When You Want to Let Go, and more. She is cohost of the inspirational talk show Life Today with James and Betty Robison, which is seen worldwide by a potential audience of over 100 million viewers. Sheila lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Barry, and son, Christian, who is in graduate school.

Book preview

Title page with Thomas Nelson logo

© 2008 by Sheila Walsh

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotation in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations noted MSG are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from Holy Bible, New Living Translation. © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked NRSV are taken from the NEW REVISED STAN DARD VERSION of the Bible. © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved. Scripture marked NIV are taken from HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked KJV are from the KING JAMES VERSION (public domain).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Walsh, Sheila, 1956–

Let go : live free of the burdens all women know / Sheila Walsh.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8499-0135-5

1. Christian women—Religious life. 2. Providence and government of God—Christianity. 3. Trust in God. I. Title.

BV4527.W355 2008

248.8'43—dc22

2008044837

09 10 11 12 13 QW 10 9 8 7 6

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION God’s Rescue Plan—To Be Delivered, You Have to Let Go

ONE Fresh-Baked Grace for the Spiritually Hungry

TWO This Dead Religion Is Past Its Sell-By Date

THREE Living in the Past

FOUR Look at the View Ahead!

FIVE The Trap of Unforgiveness

SIX Don’t Play Fair—It Will Set You Free

SEVEN The Trouble with Temptation Is That It’s Just So Tempting

EIGHT Let Go and Live in Christ’s Victory

NINE Shame on You!

TEN Shame on Him

ELEVEN You Are You for a Reason

TWELVE I Was Made for This

THIRTEEN Sometimes My Life Feels Like a Cliffhanger

FOURTEEN God Will Prove It’s a Love Story

FIFTEEN We Are What We Believe We Are?

SIXTEEN Table for Two, Please

SEVENTEEN No Light at the End of My Tunnel

EIGHTEEN The Million-Watt Megabulb of God’s Hope

CONCLUSION A Long-Awaited Deliverance

DELIVERANCE: The Power of a Word

NOTES

INTRODUCTION

God’s rescue plan—

to be delivered,

you have to let go

One Sunday morning, as I was getting ready for church, I felt discouraged and bone weary. Belle, our three-year-old bichon frise, looked up at me with heartfelt empathy, as if to say, If you’re going down, I’m coming with you. That’s how I felt that morning. Many things in my life were going very well, but there were a few areas where I felt very hopeless.

As I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I heard God speak four words to me:

I will deliver you!

I didn’t hear an audible voice, but in my spirit God’s voice was unmistakable. I was startled by the clarity of the message.

This is not a common occurrence for me. I often hear God speak through the Bible, through my pastor or friends, or through the beauty of nature. But very rarely have I heard his voice so commanding, clear, and deeply personal: I will deliver you!

It seemed as if my bathroom floor had become holy ground. I knew deep down exactly what situation God was assuring me that he would deliver me from. To pretend any longer that the issue that had been weighing on my heart and soul like a frozen winter lake was under control was stretching even Belle’s blind devotion, never mind the almighty, all-knowing God of the universe.

I thought, How will God deliver me from this? My question revealed a lot about my attitude to being rescued. I am more comfortable with a straightforward scenario—I have a problem, God rescues me, and we all move on with life. But God wants much more for us. God wants to extend us a freedom that goes far beyond a one-time intervention; he wants us to experience a lifestyle of liberty.

My question was answered quickly and clearly, as God’s words came ringing back to me: I will deliver you!

As I heard God’s strong and loving voice again, I knew that the how had nothing to do with me. Not only that, but the how was ridiculous in light of the who.

All God was asking me to do was receive his promise and trust him. Nothing more.

I prayed a very simple prayer in response: Father, thank you. I believe you, I trust you, and I will try to rest in your promise. I have no idea what my deliverance will look like or when it will come, but you do and that’s all I need to know. Please give me your grace on the days when I will find it hard to trust and look for more. Help me to let go when I want to try to fix things that only you can fix.

what does it mean to be delivered?

That morning at church, coincidentally, our pastor taught from the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi:

I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ. . . . and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. . . . For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:12–13, 18–19)

As I reflected on that passage during the next few days, my mind was flooded with questions:

• How did Paul know his present circumstances would work out for his deliverance?

• What does it mean to be delivered?

• Does deliverance always involve a change of circumstances, or do the circumstances sometimes remain the same while God changes us?

• Is there a biblical time frame for how and when deliverance takes place?

• Does God always deliver his children? If not, why not?

• Does every believer need to be delivered?

I knew that I needed answers—and that I shouldn’t give up until I had more peace about the issue. So began this quest to study and understand what it means as a believer to be delivered.

How about you? Have you ever wondered what it means to be delivered? To feel delivered? God’s declaration that he would deliver me implied many things that caused me to stop and think. If he would deliver me, then I needed to let go of the pieces of the puzzle I couldn’t make fit, no matter how hard I tried. That was a struggle for me because each piece was precious, and I felt as if I should be able to make them fit. I sensed, though, that God was offering much more than a quick-fix or rescue; he was offering me a whole new way to live. I wasn’t sure if I was ready or even had the stamina for the journey that might lie ahead. Even so, the choices were painfully clear. I could continue to struggle all alone, pushing myself through one more day, or I could take God at his word—and let go.

start with grace

I don’t know what made you pick up this book. You may be in financial trouble, in a bad marriage or a difficult relationship, shackled by the pain of your past, or simply want to live in all the fullness that Christ offers. Whatever the case, I imagine that somewhere deep inside you, you long to be delivered. Set free. And so I welcome you to this book. I hope and pray it will be a blessing to you. And I want you to know I will be beside you on this journey.

I also want you to know that I value your time and energy. Very few women have spare time to sit around and think, Well, what can I do now? Because of that awareness, I have carefully chosen the biblical insights and personal stories in this book to make a difference in your life and in your walk with Christ.

We will examine many of the issues women often struggle with—but before we do, I believe that the perfect place to begin is with grace. If, like me, you have exhausted your own resources, you are in the perfect place to receive God’s grace. Where law imprisons, grace liberates. If you are being beaten up internally or externally by the merciless taskmaster of the law, there is fresh grace available just for you.

Perhaps you are weighed down by events in your past. My heart aches as I think of the time that we as daughters of Eve have lost living in regret. Christ died to put us right with God. He paid for the crushing debt that caused a breach in our relationship with our Father, yet so often we spend our lives in debtors’ court as if the bill was still to be paid. Dear sister, you are free—you just have to let go.

What if you are imprisoned by unforgiveness? We live on a fallen planet where terrible injustices rain down on us, often when we are least prepared. When the wound comes from the hand of someone we trusted, the pain and resulting anger can be crippling. I have discovered that one of the most powerful spiritual weapons God has tucked into our arsenal is the gift of forgiveness. Revenge makes us feel powerful, but it handicaps us. It is one of the most difficult things to let go of. Perhaps that is why when we learn by God’s grace to let go of revenge and to embrace forgiveness, the freedom that results is outrageous.

Are you plagued by recurring habits that seem to keep you from being the woman you want to be? Have you given your weaknesses the food they most desire, secrecy? There are freedom and deliverance from every act or behavior you hide and grace to love and accept yourself in the process.

Secrecy’s cellmate is shame. Shame tells you that you don’t belong, that you are hopelessly flawed, not worth loving or saving. Christ’s death on the cross for you is a deafening cry to the contrary. In this book, we will look at the journey of the Lamb of God, who became your shame so that you can become God’s beloved daughter.

Do you ever find yourself questioning the purpose of your life? Does it matter that you work so hard at taking care of your family? Does anyone really care that you conduct all your business with integrity and honor? As you wait in line to wash your hands in the ladies’ restroom on Sunday morning, do the women gossiping in front of you know or care that you were the one who put fresh soap in the dispensers and fresh flowers on the counter? In a culture that worships charisma over character, I want to show you that your life matters to God. It’s as if we have been let in on a divine joke where what seems to matter doesn’t matter at all, and things our culture brushes under the carpet as insignificant service will one day be revealed to be pure gold when God pulls back the carpet’s edge.

What about fear? Do you find yourself looking to the future with dread, wondering how your life will unfold? Are you held back from taking godly risks because of the what-ifs? In a world where there was no God, fear would not only be appropriate; it would be inevitable. That is not your birthright. As a daughter of the King, you are living out the pages of a love story. Don’t confuse this love story with the stuff of daytime dramas and Hollywood hype. This love story is sealed with the precious blood of Christ.

You are his, and no one can snatch you out of his hand. Are you lonely? Many of us live busy, lonely lives. We can be surrounded by people, even family, and still feel isolated and alone. It’s risky to be known. What if in a moment of finally stepping out of our cocoon, ready to spread our wings and fly, someone laughs at us—or worse still, simply turns her back and continues with her conversation? When a child is born and the very first face she focuses her eyes on is the face of her adoring mother, part of the rip of Eden is healed. When that love and acceptance are further strengthened through the years by her father, and by family and friends, it will be hard to convince this little one that she is not worth loving. The trouble with the human experience of many is that the love they needed and craved as a child was withheld, and the tear of separation that began in Eden has gotten bigger. One of the greatest spiritual gifts of rebirth when we give our lives to Christ is that we have fresh eyes to look into and see how much we are treasured. You have a Father who adores you, who delights in your laugh, who celebrates your gifts, and who catches every tear that falls from your eyes. His love will give you the courage to leave the cocoon behind and fly.

Perhaps you begin this journey as I did, experiencing a level of hopelessness. As you look at your circumstances, you despair of anything ever changing. It’s not that you doubt that God is in control, but you live in a world where the decisions of others often affect your life. Can God deliver you even before your circumstances change? I believe that he can. I have and am experiencing that he can. So these are the issues we will look at together. We will look at our own stories and the stories of others, and we will dig deep into the Word of God.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ wants to deliver you into the grace and peace that are your birthright as his child. Jesus left all the glory that was his and embraced all the brokenness and sin that is ours so that we can be free—truly free.

As we begin our journey together in this book, this is my prayer for you:

Dear Father,

As we stand at the gateway of this book, we ask that by your grace, you will anoint our ears so that we can hear. Anoint our eyes so that we can see. Anoint our hearts and give to us the will to follow you.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

ONE

fresh-baked grace for the

spiritually hungry

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right. All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.

—ROMANS 5:18–20 MSG

A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart.

—CHARLES G. FINNEY

Grace binds you with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it, you are bound forever to the Giver and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like. Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give.

—E. STANLEY JONES

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.

—2 CORINTHIANS 4:16 MSG

That is the mystery of grace: it never comes too late.

—FRANçOIS MAURIAC

She never wanted her children to worry, but the loss of her husband had been devastating. Some days, the only thing that helped her get out of bed in the morning was knowing that she had three hungry mouths expecting to Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

Without her husband’s salary, the family struggled, especially when it came time to buy clothing. The girls were easier to keep well dressed—through the kindness of friends in her small church who had daughters just a little older than her girls, there was a steady supply of skirts and sweaters.

It was harder with her son. He had one friend in the church, but he was the same age and size, so when pants and shirts were too small for the friend, they were too small for her boy too. And he was growing so fast, it was clear his school pants were far too short.

She didn’t have any extra money that month to purchase new pants, so she decided to ask God for help.

Although she didn’t want the children to worry, she did want them to know they were being watched over by a very practical, loving Father who understood their needs and was willing and able to meet them. After supper that night, she told them what was going on.

Your brother needs new pants and I don’t have enough money to buy them, so we’re going to ask God to provide them, she said.

The younger daughter was skeptical. Does God keep extra pants in heaven? I didn’t think angels wore pants, she said.

That will not be a problem to God, the mother said with a smile. If God can make a planet out of nothing, he can certainly find some pants for your brother.

So they joined hands, and she prayed, Father God, thank you for taking care of us. Thank you that you know what we need even before we ask. But you have invited us to ask in Jesus’ name. You know that we have a need for pants, so I ask you to provide those and thank you in advance for your loving provision.

What now? the younger girl inquired. Will an angel ring the doorbell or will the pants come in the mail?

Let’s just wait and see! the mother said with a conspiratorial wink.

The following evening, the mother’s friend dropped by for a cup of tea. When she left, she gave her a package. I bought these for Tom, but he seems to have grown several inches overnight! These are far too short. Could your son wear them?

Inside the mother found three pairs of brand-new pants that were just perfect for her son. She was deeply grateful . . . but you could have knocked the younger daughter over with a feather.

seeing God in everything

Charles Finney once said, "A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart."¹ That statement was a timely challenge for me. Do you ever read something like that and recognize the truth in the words, yet you struggle with what seeing God in everything looks like in real, day-to-day life?

Take your life at this moment and run it through that grid. Is it hard to see the hand of God in everything that is happening right now? What are you dealing with right now that you don’t remember signing up for?

I think of one of my friends whose daughter is sick. She and her husband are waiting for test results. I think of a school friend of Barry’s whose young son has been very ill and