Striving or Thriving: Letting go and letting God

This has always been a really hard concept for me. I have always had a strong work ethic and felt the only way to "thrive" is to "strive". I have spent much of my life, "making things happen." Building, clawing, climbing, lifting, pulling, pushing, and sometimes even manipulating the situation, to "get it done." It was exhausting and stressful. I can honestly say, it was never for me, but for whatever team I was serving. I have always understand the concept of team. If I made $100 dollars and hour or $3.75 an hour, it never mattered as much to me as ensuring I was making impact. I needed to understand the "why" we were doing what we were doing and then set me loose and I will go like the Energizer Bunny! ;) The better the WHY, the harder I would build, claw, climb, lift, pull, push and even manipulate the situation for the good of the team.

About 5 years back, my eyes were opened. I was working as hard as I possibly could and somehow, for the first time in my life, a couple of my leaders were not happy. I was pounding my head against the wall. I was the last one to leave and the first to get to work. My teams were growing like crazy, all our projects were on time and under budget, and I had more key relationships with key stakeholders than most people would have in a lifetime. My team reporting to me, and reporting to them loved our vision and would follow me off a cliff. However, I was somehow "upside down" with some of my leaders. I truly thought I was in the twilight zone. I read the books. I knew executive presence, EQ, Crucial Conversations, My Blindspots, Crucial Accountability, my Strength Finders strengths, my True Colors, how to be Decisive, how to go from Good to Great, and could Lean In. (All great books by the way.) I was praying at the time, but I had a couple issues. I was praying that God would help these two leaders get with the program! hahaha. Do you see all the I words and My words? It was all about me.

Have you ever seen one of those antique roll top secretary desks? They had large drawers on the bottom, but when you roll up the top, there are a ton of little drawers. I gave God the big drawers, but I hid all these little drawers either because I did not want God in them, or because they seemed so little - I did not really think God was interested. It was like I was saying, "you can have all of my life except these parts, and these over here you probably don't even care about." My CEO brought me into a meeting with the 2 leaders that were frustrated with me and literally the night before the meeting, I prayed that whatever His will was...let it be and by the way God, you have FULL ACCESS to all the drawers. I am sorry for the ones I hid and thank you God for being interested in every detail of my life...especially the junk drawer. There was nothing left in me that could change the situation I was in, I was completely exasperated. God intervened. I let go and let God.

The meeting went really well, and even though I can't say that I left with all warm and fuzzies, I can say that God intervened and the next couple years our program grew from 55 hospitals to 152 hospitals. In addition, we created new innovation that impacted care across the United States in several service lines. I wavered often, sometimes letting go and letting God, but often going back to my default of striving. Usually I would let go and let God when the pressure became unbearable. About a year ago I finally flipped my philosophy. Do I still work hard...duh; of course I do! God's work takes hard work, but I have significantly let go of the worry. I KNOW God will provide.

Recently, in my new role, my first job is to create a strategy to align with my leaders. I have prayed about this strategy every morning and every night. Honestly, often through the day. You would not believe the way things keep coming together. I wake up with answers, and my team has come up with great ideas. I can't explain it yet, but by letting God lead, it has been exhilarating, fun and just awesome. I have become more patient and God has shown me time and time again, "trust Me!" Does't that sound funny, "letting" God lead. If you were picking a team captain, would you pick Crystal Dugger or God? I would go with the one that created the planets, sun, galaxies, universes, oceans, mountains, stars, animals, plants, and oh yeah...he created US!! HE HAS THE STRATEGY. HE LEADS.

There are only a couple things that can hold us back:

1. Lack of knowledge about God: If you don't read the Bible, His words, than you don't know who He is.

2. Lack of relationship with God: If you are not talking and listening (meditating) to God, you can't hear Him when he calls. You have to learn to know His voice.

3. Trust in God: Letting go and Letting God requires immense trust and faith in God. You have to trust that He is going to make a way, find a path and lead you through it. This requires patience and trust. This sounds easy, but when the deadline is approaching and you still don't have the answer, you have to trust God, pray, and read His word. God WILL provide.

4. Letting sin in: We are not perfect, but you can't expect to hear God when you are not leading a life of obedience to Him.

5. Lack of coachability: If you can't handle feedback or believe that your way is the only way, you can't follow God. There is only one leader, and it can't be you. My husband is a coach, if he did not give constructive criticism to his team, they would never improve. He is not going to allow a kid to continue to have bad technique, he will correct them if he sees potential and knows they are coachable. But sadly, sometimes he has to move on from the most talented kid on the team, because they are not coachable. If you have someone that cares about you giving you feedback, I promise you that was a hard conversation for them to have. You are so blessed to have that person in your life. Listen and don't get defensive. We are the sheep, He is the shepherd. Not the other way around.

I challenge us all to just try it for a week. Read your Bible daily, pray morning and night and randomly throughout the day, find time to just listen to God, remove things that are not of God from your life, and be coachable. Whatever that big thing is that you are trying to accomplish, Let go and Let God and then just trust Him. He WILL come through. It may not always be the way you thought it would go, but Gods plan is better!

Ephesians 2:8-10

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God never intended for us to strive, He want to show CHRIST IN US. Let Him shine through. It is not about us, it is always about HIM.

Love you guys and have a great week!

Crystal