I don’t know about you, but I love to do things my way! I love to know what to expect and have life fall into place and meet my expectations.
I love feeling like things and circumstances are in control – or that I am. And honestly, in some circumstances I need to be in control, but then there are those times when I need to let it go and trust God with the outcome.
My friend Karen Ehman is a self-professed recovering control-freak. I love that about her! She’s joining me today to talk about her new book, Let.It.Go. Karen is my oh-so amazing-friend and ministry teammate with Proverbs 31 Ministries. She’s also the wife of one very wonderful guy (he helped move furniture and a huge wall hanging at my house not too long ago}! She’s also the mom of 3 great kids, a national speaker and 4-time author. Here’s a little about her new book and how you can win a copy!
Karen’s book Let.It.Go. will empower you to:
- Take control of your schedule yet welcome interruptions from God
- Draw the line between mothering and micromanaging
- Influence your husband instead of manipulating him
- Learn to control your emotions when you can’t control the circumstances
- Stop pursuing the appearance of perfection and start pursuing the person of God
*A companion 6 week dvd and Bible study guide is also available.
I had the chance to interview Karen about this new project. Here is what she had to say:
Karen, tell us a little about why you wrote this book. Are you a control freak?
Ummm….yeah! What woman isn’t about at least some aspect of life? We have so many areas that we must be in charge of—at home, at work, in the church and community. What happens is that we let our strengths of multi-tasking and getting jobs done morph into a weakness of being controlling.
So, are you saying controlling can actually be needed at times?
Of course we must control our homes and schedules and such. We should work with diligence and excellence. What we have to be careful of is going from being conscientious to being controlling. Being conscientious is doing a job well. Being controlling is trying to manipulate the outcome. There is a difference and we know deep down inside when we’ve crossed that line. This book helps women determine how to control what they should, trust God with what they can’t, and most importantly, how to decide which one is which!
What are some areas you cover in the book where women try to run the show?
We try to be in control of our homes, our schedules, our kids, our husbands, our circumstances, others’ opinions of us…..the list is long!
So what is at the root of why we women control?
We control because we don’t trust God. We think we know better than Him just what is best for us. It is as old as the garden of Eden. Well, guess what? God called and He’d like his job back!!
The holidays are coming up. Do they bring out the control freak tendencies in women?
Oh yes….in fact. One whole chapter of the book is about my friend Lisa Whelchel daring me five years ago to not make any decisions for a whole three weeks RIGHT AT THE HOLIDAYS!! It was painful. And actually, in the end, wonderful. I think this topic is so important that I’ve written a free five day resource for women dealing with the holidays called From Chaos to Calm: The LET. IT. GO. Christmas Challenge. Your readers can sign up for it here.
What is your prayer for the woman who reads your book?
I pray that through learning to relinquish control and let go of the reins, she will be able to grab hold of her faith. That her relationship with God will strengthen as she learns to stop trying to fix outcomes and get her own way but seeks His perfect will for her life—and the lives of her loved ones—instead.
Thank you so much Karen!! I’m so excited about your book!
Enter to WIN: Click “Share your Thoughts” below this post and let us know why you’d like to win 2 copies of Karen’s new book, Let.It.Go. as well as a Starbucks gift card! Also, share on Twitter, Facebook and via email and link back to today’s post and then leave another comment for a second chance to win! {I’ll be announcing last week’s winner in another post shortly>}
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I’d love to win a copy of this book so I can learn more how to hand my control issues over to God! How freeing that would be!
I feel this book may help me in the area of restoring my joy. I have lost organizational skills and can feel very discouraged about it. When I can stay organized, I feel such freedom in my spirit and then find the time to reach out to bless others. Thank you, thank you for your thoughts to pull together our world of busyness AND our hearts towards God and others.
First off, thanks for being real about this. I struggle with this a lot! Being a Pastor’s wife, people think you are to “have it together” and be in control and not struggle. But, this is my biggest struggle and I do need to give it back to God and not pick it back up! My husband and I were just talking about this very subject! And I would love to win 2 copies of this to share with ladies at my church! God Bless you both!
Perfect timing for a book like this – just before the holidays! The holidays are big control times for me.
Karen & Renee, thank you for focusing on this area of spiritual growth. For me, 40 years of being in control is enough! I’m ready to let.it.GO!!! 🙂 and to trust God more fully.
All my boys really want me to read this book. I know some friends I could share it with also. We can laugh with and encourage each other with our imperfect progress.
I would love to win 2 copies. I would read it and then give them away as gifts to my friends.
I would love to win this book. I could use advice on how to “Let It Go” especially when it comes to doing things my way.
Can’t wait to get started. Just what I need to help de-stress the upcoming “mad house”. Thank you KAren and Renee.
I never thought about controlling as not trusting God. I’d like to win the book so I could read more about it.
I would love to win this book!!
Sometimes you don’t have a choice in ‘letting go’. My husband died suddenly last year, and letting go has been the most difficult part of mourning his loss. 41 years of marriage. How can one let that go? He took care of me, my every need for all those years, and now I am alone. Yes, let it go…make sure that you are focusing on the most important things, the one thing really; time to love fully. Perhaps this book will offer some insight for this lonely pilgrim soul. Happy Thanksgiving!!
I would like to win the book because I have been noticing my tendency to overbook my life. My husband reminded me that when there’s no peace in my decisions to do something, then it’s not from the Holy Spirit. I’m sure this book will show me how to find that balance!
I follow Karen’s blog and have been wanting this book, but really cannot spend the money for it right now. There is alot going on in my life right now and my control freak tendencies are in overdrive. I cannot be a control freak to my 17 month old, she fights back. I cannot be a control freak with my Mother in law who lives with us, she has dementia and other health issues and has lost the ability to speak english. I cannot be a control freak when my kids are in school. I cannot be a control freak with my husband, even though I try my best, he is stressed out enough. Do I need this book, yes. Thanks for the opportunity!!
I cannot wait to get a read through Karen’s new book! It sounds totally ‘written for me’! I would love to win a copy of the book!
I need to win, because I am a bad control freak! I need help! thanks.
I know that I try to control too much and overthink every decision I am faced with. I think this would be a really helpful book and I would like to read it.
Wow, this really hits home! I have signed up for the five day challenge. My mind says, “I can’t do this!!,” but I know with God’s help I can overcome my control freak tendencies. Thank you Karen for sharing your struggles and how you overcame them and inspiring the rest of us control freak moms to do the same.
Please pray for me to overcome and enjoy this holiday season….out of control!
I would love to win the two books so that I can read through this book with a special friend who shares the sames struggles.
I so need to let go especially as my children are getting older. I definitely need to trust God completely.
Oh, how this book would speak to my soul. I have far more to do than I can reasonably cope with and stay well and sane, and yet I don’t want to let anyone down. I know I ought to start saying no, but how can you, when you feel that God has led you to be on this committee and that committee and do this and that, oh yes, and the other. How do you actually STOP, and listen and learn and hear. Where is God in all of my mad life. We so like to be in control don’t we, and think we can fix things, in fact think we have to fix things. I can remember when I was young, my parents expected me to fix whatever I’d done wrong, and most things were always my fault – and I have carried this through to my adult life. I have to be in control and know what is going on otherwise I go into total panic mode. Oh dear, now I’ve started putting all this down in writing I can’t stop…… sorry! I would so love to win this book please!! God bless