Almost Tattooed in Tokyo

I was so close. Let me explain.

Hey, Friend!

I'm ba-ack!

Long story short, Japan was amazing and while I was there, I almost got a tattoo.

I know, I know. Hear me out.

We were in Tokyo, and I found myself sitting in a tattoo studio seriously considering two words: Let God.

Ultimately, I didn't get the tattoo (though I still might).

But the fact that I almost did told me everything about where I am right now.

Because those two words have been living in me for weeks (and even years).

Through the uncertainty. Through the transition. Through the moments when I've been tempted to grab the wheel and force something to happen on my timeline instead of His.

"Let go, and let God."

But as we all know, this is much easier said than lived.

1 | Thinking Out Loud

Transitions have a way of revealing exactly how much control you've been trying to hold onto.

When things are stable and predictable, you can convince yourself you're trusting God.

But the moment the ground shifts, you find out what you actually believe.

And what most of us actually believe, if we're honest, is that we need to figure it out ourselves.

That if we just research enough, plan enough, network enough, push hard enough, we can engineer the outcome we want.

So we grip tighter. We work harder. We fill every quiet moment with action because stillness feels like falling behind.

For you, the transition might be the idea you've been perfecting before you share it. The offer you keep refining but never pricing. The content you've been sitting on until you feel ready enough to hit publish. The knowledge you've been carrying for years that you haven't quite trusted yourself to teach yet.

Whatever it is, it can be exhausting.

But here's what I'm learning in this season: the tighter you grip, the harder it is for Him to move.

Letting go isn't passive. It's not giving up or checking out or pretending the uncertainty doesn't exist. It's the active, daily, sometimes hourly decision to release the outcome and trust the One who can see what you can't.

It's the hardest thing I've ever tried to practice.

And I have to choose it over and over again, sometimes in the same day.

Maybe you do too.

2 | Try This

Think about one thing in your life or your calling right now that you've been gripping too tightly.

Not managing or planning. Gripping. The thing that keeps you up at night because you're trying to control an outcome that was never fully yours to control.

Write it down. Then write this underneath it:

I release this. I trust the process. I trust the One who started this in me.

You don't have to feel it yet. Just say it. Repeat it until it starts to feel true.

3 | Sit With This

Where have you been trying to engineer an outcome that God is asking you to trust Him with instead?

(Hit reply and tell me. I'd love to hear from you.)

📖 The Word Out Loud

Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

One of my favorites. And one of the hardest to actually live.