How to Apply The Rocking Chair Principle
I share a story from my childhood where playing in a rocking chair taught me an important lesson we can all apply today.
Episode Discussion Points
Story of my sisters and I giving each other “roller-coaster” rides on a rocking chair.
It was all fun and games until someone (me) got hurt.
Parallels to our day and our life with not trusting the arm of flesh, but trusting God to guide, but we get to choose who we want with us on our crazy rocking journey.
I share a personal experience of one of my children recently being diagnosed with a new diagnosis, and how it impacted them and me.
How I gave my burden to Jesus and He carried it and gave me peace.
I share a journal entry where I remembered this story and God guided me to once again let go and let Him take control.
Invitation to ask God “what am I holding onto that I need to let go of?”
Bible Verses Shared
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. —Jeremiah 17:5
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. —Jeremiah 29:11
Choose you this day whom ye will serve. —Joshua 24:15
#tamarakanderson #storiesofhopeinhardtimes #podcast #hope #God #hardtimes #childhoodstory #funnystory #trustGod #control #faith #letgoletGod #bibleverse
Transcription
You can find the transcription of today's episode here:
Tamara Anderson 0:03
Have you ever felt like life was spiraling out of control? And you're like, Whoa, if this is a ride, I totally want to get off. I don't know if you felt that way, but I sure have and today I want to tell you something that I learned many, many years ago called the rocking chair principle and it's a story from my childhood that applies to this very scenario. Stay tuned.
Tamara Anderson 0:30
Welcome to Stories of Hope in Hard Times, the show that explores how people endure and even thrive in difficult times, all with God's help. I'm your host Tamara K Anderson. Join me on a journey to find inspiring stories of hope and wisdom learned in life's hardest moments. Hello, and welcome to the stories of hope in hard times podcast. I'm your host Tamara Kay Anderson. And on today's Tamara's Takeaway, I want to take you back into my early childhood to a lesson that I learned with a rocking chair.
Tamara Anderson 1:13
Now let me set the stage for you here. When I was eight years old, my family moved to Argentina. And I had three younger sisters at the time. And we were kind of stair stepped every two years. And I was eight. My next sister was six then for them to and because we were new in Argentina and didn't speak Spanish sisters ended up hanging out with each other a whole whole bunch. And so we played together every day. We fought every once in a while to I mean, we were not perfect by any means.
Tamara Anderson 1:56
So one of the days that we were off using creative play, we went into my parents bedroom and they had a rocking chair in there. Because Because my mom loved to rock us and read us stories and stuff like that. And so what we decided to do is we decided we were going to create a roller coaster ride with this rocking chair. And let me share with you what this looked like. So we got one of my dad's belts and we strapped our youngest sister in to the rocking chair. And we put that belt around her waist and made sure she was tied into the rocking chair because you know you have to have seatbelts on when you go on rollercoasters, right. And to make it even more fun. We decided to take a few of my mom's scarves and we tied her arms down to the armrests of the rocking chair so that she was like pretty much immobilized. So thing around the waist arm strapped down. I think we even might have had something around her chest. I mean, she was not going anywhere.
Tamara Anderson 3:10
And then to make the roller coaster ride fun, you know, we would lean the chair back like she was going up the hill and wiggle it a little bit like like a roller coaster would and then we would tip the chair clear forward and just going down the hill and the other three of us are just working that rocking chair, shaking it back and forth, leaning it back, tipping it all the way forward to our faces like five inches from the ground. I mean, it was the wildest, bestest roller coaster ride inside a bedroom you could have ever had. And it was awesome. And so once we had taken care of the youngest of my sisters, it was time for the four year old to climb in. And so we did the same process with her. We strapped her in with the belt cinched her arms down and away we went tipping the rocking chair backward shaking it around giving her the bestest roller coaster ride in the whole wide world. Okay, and this is how we played.
Tamara Anderson 4:22
Well you can see where this is going. Next was my six year old sisters turn and we did the same thing with her strapped her in cinched your arms down. Roller Coastered her as the rocking chair just rocked back and forth and back and forth his side to side and I mean, it was fun. Now, I was the oldest and so it was my turn. And I was a little bit apprehensive is probably the best word about climbing in that rocking chair because I knew that I was the biggest and the strongest and I wasn't sure If my sisters could carry my weight as they tip the rocking chair back and forth, but my sisters were persistent, and they convinced me to get in the chair.
Tamara Anderson 5:12
And being young and trusting I let them so they cinched me in. They strapped down my arms, and they tipped me back. Like I was gonna ride this roller coaster and I was nervous. I mean, like, for reals. They tipped me back, and I'm back. And I'm like, All right, and they're like, you're going up the hill, you're going up the hill. And we went up the hill, and all of a sudden, they tipped me forward, and I'm coming down, and all of the sudden, they dropped me on my face. And I cried, and I might have even gotten a goose egg on my forehead. I mean, my mom came in, they untied me from the rocking chair. And she was like, What are you guys doing? And we said, what we were doing me through my tears and my sobs. And she banned us from using the rocking chair as a roller coaster, because obviously, it's not a safe activity. Well it was until they couldn't support my weight.
Tamara Anderson 6:19
But I learned something very interesting that day, and it is this, the choices we make, have consequences. And sometimes, we don't know how those consequences are going to turn out. But we can pick who we have beside us. We can pick people who are stronger than us. Or we can pick people who cannot help us. There's an interesting couple of verses in the Bible. Let's talk about this very principle. In Jeremiah 17 five it says curse be the man that trust us, then man and make it flesh his arm. Contrast that with for either know, the plans I have for you, declares the LORD plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope, and a future. And I love this verse. I've had so many people come on this podcast and share this verse, that they had to learn to trust God, when life detours took them totally in unexpected places, took them to cancer diagnosis to children, passing away to paralysis to like my son being diagnosed with autism, actually two of them. These are things that we're not expecting.
Tamara Anderson 7:40
So we can choose to trust in the arm of flesh, which is going to fail us, we're going to get dropped on our face. Or we can choose to trust in God. And ultimately, the choice is up to us. We can choose as it says in Joshua, choose you this day, whom he will serve. I know that my life sure hasn't gone as I would, I've planned. And I'm sure you're just has an either. And it's scary to lean back in that rocking chair of life. And let him take control. Because it is hard. Because you don't know where you're going. God, he can see the end from the beginning. And he can make all things work for good.
Tamara Anderson 8:30
Recently, one of my children received an interesting diagnosis. And it was kind of the culmination, they'd been struggling with some health challenges for a while. And finally, we got something back that kind of tied all the symptoms they were having together. And I'm like, Oh, it's good to know. But at the same time, it's hard to swallow a diagnosis that they'll probably struggle with the rest of their life. And after a few tears were shed. I remember that I was struggling with the diagnosis as well. And I met with a friend of mine who's a life coach and and she talked me through a meditation where I was giving Jesus Christ my burden. And it was just this heavy weight kind of on my chest. And I remember picturing just giving that burden to my savior. And then she said, What did he tell you? And I listened for what Jesus would tell me as he took that burden. And one of the things that he told me was that he would take care of my child that this diagnosis would be a learning experience for them.
Tamara Anderson 9:53
And as a mom, that kind of eased my soul a little bit But at the same time, it doesn't change the fact that they have a diagnosis, right. And so at time, like those, it's good to know that God is there, and he's got this and that he will be with them as they go through life, and these struggles. And the same goes for you or me that when we hit a rough patch, and we feel we've been dropped on our face, we need to trust that God is getting us to a place where he sees that things will turn out for our good. I could never have imagined that my son being diagnosed with autism would lead me to eventually write a book and start a podcast. And this is not the path I would have chosen for my life. But I've had to learn to let go and let God when I was thinking about this rocking chair principle.
Tamara Anderson 11:02
A couple of weeks ago, I ended up writing about the story in my journal and detailing this humorous incident with my sisters, I guess it's humorous to look back on now It sure wasn't then. But here's what I wrote in my journal. As I've been pondering this story, I've realized Heavenly Father's trying to teach me this rocking chair principle again, in a different way. I feel like I've been on a wild ride the last little bit, and I'm trying to control it, push it the way I think it's supposed to go. But what God is saying is let go, let me take over, I've got you. And I'm both trustworthy and strong enough to guide you on your wild ride. I won't let you fall, let go.
Tamara Anderson 11:50
And then I asked God, what am I holding on to that I need to let go of? And he gave me an amazing answer. He gave me an answer that I wasn't expecting. And he kind of broadened my perspective on the way I was looking at a problem in my life and just said, this is how you need to change your perspective. And it made me kind of open my eyes and go, Oh, I get it now.
Tamara Anderson 12:17
And so if you are feeling like life is rocking out of control, a little bit or a lot, you have a choice. Who will you choose to be with you in that ride? Will you choose to rely on the arm of flesh? Or will you choose to rely on God who knows where even wild rides can take you he knows how to turn those crazy parts of life into something good. And to help something good come from it. I invite you to let go, let God take control. And then ask him that same question that I asked him. What am I holding on to that I need to let go of? How can I let go truly, and let you guide me on my path. And then wait. And listen and see what he inspires you to let go of.
Tamara Anderson 13:18
See if he broadens your perspective a little bit. If he tells you you need to do something, or perhaps not do something, or to just trust that even though this isn't the path you want to be on, that He will guide you. He has plans to prosper you and not harm you. As it says in Jeremiah, trust Him. And don't be afraid. Hope on my friends.
Tamara Anderson 13:44
Hey guys, have you started thinking about Mother's Day yet? Every Mother's Day I am looking for a card or something a gift to give my mom my sisters, my friends. And it's hard for me to sometimes find those gifts. And so today I'm so excited to tell you about this booklet The mother's might it's a perfect simple, inexpensive gift you can give your friends, your family, your sister's, anyone that you want to share this story with. And it will be meaningful. It's not just a little piece of candy that they eat and forget. It's something they can read over and over again. Because so often we as women feel alone and overwhelmed and burdened and like there's so many things weighing upon our shoulders. And what I love about this story is that it points us to Jesus Christ in our times of trouble, that he understands us. He loves us. He knows what we're going through and he is more than willing to help us bear that burden. And I love that about this story that it gives not only me hope, but it will convey that sense of hope for all of you. So Get your copy of it today Tamara K Anderson.com/store. You can order one to 10, 20 however many you want, and we will get those to you so you can get them distributed by Mother's Day.
Tamara Anderson 15:13
Hey,thanks so much for listening to today's show. If you liked what you heard, subscribe so you can get your weekly dose of powerful stories of hope. I know there are many of you out there who are going through a hard time, and I hope you found useful things that you can apply to your own life in today's podcast. If you'd like to access the show notes of today's show, please visit my website stories of hope podcast.com. There you will find a summary of today's show, the transcript and one of my favorite takeaways. You know, if someone kept coming to mind during today's episode, perhaps that means that you should share this episode with them. Maybe there was a story shared or quote or a scripture verse that they really really need to hear. So go ahead and share this podcast. May God bless you, especially if you are struggling with hope to carry on and the strength to keep going when things get tough. Remember to walk with Christ and He will help you bear the burden. And above all else, remember, God loves you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai