"Always hit refresh, it fixes everything."

If you do not know this about me, I work with my family in a company my son created. It is a blessing from the Lord that we are able to work together to build something that allows us to live in America, travel often, see our adult kids, and be a part of our granddaughter's life.

We do have separate roles and pieces and parts each of us are responsible for. Our son is the business guy who sells the candy. My husband is over production. I focus on payroll, HR, and a little accounting. One thing I knew from the beginning was I was not very good at customer service. The people that complain quickly make me angry and I have a hard time with "the customer is always right".

Thankfully, for years, my daughter in law and recently my daughter have taken on the role of making the customer happy. However, sometimes they have lives and I am happy to cover for them in small time increments.

A week or so ago, it was my job to do customer service. Now, I have done it before, so I am not a newbie, but I do not access the chats every day. Since I was doing it full time, things have changed. The look of the screen has changed, the allocation of agents has changed, and features have been added.

So there I am, bopping along, trying my best to make everyone happy when my view changes and some critical information is no longer showing on my screen. I tried to continue the job, but I really could not adequately do what I needed to do without seeing this missing piece.

But I can fix it, right? I hit every button, toggled every switch, and clicked on every symbol with no luck. In frustration, I called my daughter in law, explained the situation, and asked, "how in the world do I fix this?"

"Oh, yeah...just refresh the page." And of course it worked. I felt like a dummy...I should have known to try that.

Later, my daughter texted me to return my missed call. I explained to her the problem and that I had solved it, but I couldn't believe I did not figure it out. She sent me one text, "LOL, always hit refresh, it fixes everything."

And because I love to take real life scenarios and turn them into analogies that provide a Biblical truth, I thought that one liner was golden.

The Lord has been teaching me about self sufficiency lately. How I continue to rely on myself. How my prayer life is puny. How easily I become overwhelmed with holding onto the problems of this world. How I try to dig deeper into myself to make things happen.

All of this striving rather than the abiding in the only One who actually can.

It is one of those lessons my mind knows and my heart believes, yet my old self, habitual patterns, pure stubbornness, and an effective enemy continue to use to trip me up. I am trying. I see the sin. I know the truth of the importance of abiding. Nevertheless, I have hit every button, toggled every switch, and clicked on every symbol with no luck. Basically, I have come to the end of me, which is where I need to be, and I look up.

Enter that text message, sent by a loving daughter, "LOL, always hit refresh, it fixes everything."

Ephesians 4:22 tells us "to put off your old self,[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

The reality is I do not need to be self sufficient. I need to become less, and allow God to become more (John 3:30). While the world we live in may tell us that we need to be strong, independent, and self reliant, the Bible teaches that human independence is an illusion, a lie from the enemy. A whisper in the garden that tells us we won't really die. Jesus says in John 15:5, "Apart from me you can do nothing".

You know these things, I think to myself, yet I am so easily deceived that I cannot find the right toggle when all I need to do is hit refresh.

Prayer...why is it down on the list of helpful resources? Over and over again the Father tells me to pray, teaches me how to pray, and models prayer, yet my own inclination to stop and pray first, before anything else, has not fully been worked into an immediate response. This is a basic fundamental, nothing fancy about it. Just one of the basics that needs to be my go to. Hit refresh!

Anxiety...I want to fix everything, for everybody. Some may say this is the role of a Mother. Make life easier for your children, take away the hard, don't let them suffer, always show them rainbows as you shield them from life's storms. But I have learned that when I try to take away others hard, I get in the way of God. He loves all of my children, my husband, my family and friends more than I ever could. I need to let Him be God, and remember that I am not. Stop trying to control. Hit refresh!

Self sufficiency...ha! It is almost humorous to think that I can do things on my own. I strive and I try and I wear myself out. Then I remember how I am nothing without abiding in Christ. All power, strength, wisdom, and grace come from him and through him. I can click every button, toggle every switch, and work my magic as much as I want with no success. I will still be missing the piece of information on my screen that is vital to get any job done.

"LOL, always hit refresh, it fixes everything."