Just Say No

All my life I have been a "yes" person.  I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to hurt anyone's feeling by saying no.  If someone asked me to do something, my answer was usually always yes.  Without thinking, yes.  Whatever you need, yes.  But, after 33 years, I am finally learning to be able to say no.  Now, this is not to say I'm some kind of Grumpy Gus that will never do anything you ask her to again.  That's absolutely not true.  If it's within my power to help you out, I'm going to do it.  What I'm mainly speaking about is not trying to get yourself so tied up in every single thing going by saying "YES TO ALL" that you make your life a mess.  Have you ever seen the Jim Carey movie Bruce Almighty?  It's one of my favorites.  If you have, you'll remember the scene where Bruce (who is playing the role of fill - in God) has set up the entire worlds prayers in e-mail form.  When the billions of prayers start rolling in, he becomes overwhelmed and replies yes to all.  And, or course, it creates mass chaos.  Saying yes to everything to try and be a people pleaser will do that in your life.  It did it to mine.  It's okay to say no.  Especially in ministries.  If you don't know that you know that you know that God has placed you within that ministry, it's okay to say no or to walk away.  I recently, after many years left a ministry post I was heavily involved in.  It wasn't without pain or struggle.  Lord knows, I loved every single person involved and I loved being a part of something.  I loved it.  But, I wasn't called to do it.  After awhile, what started as such a blessing to me, became a stressing to me.  I became consumed with trying to prove I could do it.  I became overwhelmed with trying to connect to each and every person involved.  It became so much that I couldn't do it anymore.  I was afraid and I was sad, but I gave it up.  And, now, seeing those people move in that same ministry blesses me so much more!!  It was my time to say "no" and walk away.  Time for a freshness to be added to the ministry.  Time for me to devote more time to the Children's Church and Teen Blogs at church.  Time for me to do what I know the Lord has called me to do.  And, if you need further proof that it was of God, out of nowhere today my Sunday School teacher said "sometimes you have to just say no."