This is an article written by Dara:
INDEPENDENCE DAY
“I do it myself!” are words I hear daily from my two-year-old daughter. From simple things like feeding herself to the impossible like reaching the cookie jar on the top of the cupboards, she incessantly feels the need to assert her independence. I’ve found her in the kitchen trying to pour a drink from a full gallon milk jug she can’t even lift. I’ve found her on top of the counter trying to find something she can stand on to reach the extra four feet to get that illusive cookie jar. Even though I am right there to help her, she has to try everything she can possibly do to complete her task first before finally asking for help.
In many ways, when I watch my daughter struggle to figure out she needs help, it is like watching myself in my relationship with God. As Americans, independence is a highly prized attitude in our lives. Nothing is impossible to accomplish with a little ingenuity and a whole lot of perseverance or maybe plain stubbornness. In fact independence is considered a strength and dependence a weakness. We even have sayings like, “God helps them who help themselves,” and it is surprising how many people believe those words are in the Bible.
However, the Bible has very different words to say. God wants us to rely on Him for our strength. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 it says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” He gives us the power we need to accomplish the tasks set before us. In Philippians 4:13 it says, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” And in 1 Peter 4:11 it says, “If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”
My older boys also went through a stage of ultra independence, but eventually they got to a point of recognition that they were not able to do everything on their own. Now I am asked for help on everything, even things I know they can do themselves. When it’s appropriate I help them. Otherwise, I encourage them and stand right beside them. Knowing I am there helps them to keep calm and complete the task.
This is how I want to be in my relationship with God. I want to look to Him for everything, knowing that my strength in every situation comes from Him. To recognize that He is there right beside me in every situation.
So, this July I am making a Declaration of Dependence; a recognition that I am unable to do it all myself, that God is my strength when I am weak, that I can do nothing without Him, and that I am here to show His glory when He works through my weakness
