You Got This (Ish)

You got this.

I love to say these words to my friends. Laundry has taken over your house? You got this. Child screaming his/her head off about long division? You got this. Insane week on the horizon? You got this. Long run where you feel like you’re going to die or possibly dry heave your guts straight out onto the road? You got this.

I evidently said those words so much that my sister sent me a little plaque with them (see below). She said that with a crazy semester ahead and another move looming, she felt like I could use the reminder. And she wasn’t wrong.

The funny thing about seeing those words every day, though, has been how they’ve gotten turned around and flipped upside down for me. Because here’s the truth: more often than not, I don’t “got this,” no matter how confident I may or may not look on the outside.

All that laundry? I’ve got a bad attitude about it (unless it’s towels—dryer warm towels are the best). That child losing it over long division? I’ve got impatience and frustration to give right back. Weeks of insanity back to back to back? I’ve got exhaustion and discouragement and an extreme lack of preparation. The long run? I may have it, but then I don’t have enough energy for the rest of the day.

But that’s when I looked back at those three small words…and I saw that they didn’t say, “I got this.” They say, “You got this.”

And the “you” should be capitalized (and not just because it’s at the beginning of a sentence). It says, “You got this,” but it’s not an encouragement for me to work myself into an early grave. No. “You got this” is a prayer and a praise wrapped up in one. It’s me talking to God and reminding myself that He’s the One who’s got this. So what am I freaking out about?

This coming semester? God’s got this.

Our next move? God’s got this.

All the frustration and exhaustion and crabbiness and emotions and To Do lists and impossible situations? Yeah. God’s got them too.

This morning as I ran around base, I was thinking about those three words: God’s got this.

I thought of them as I ran past the Man’s squadron and prayed for him and his cops. God’s got them.

I thought of them as I ran past the flight line and the library, the commissary and the BX, the neighborhoods and the schools. God’s got each and every one of the people who live and work there.

I thought of them as I came home to make coffee cake for breakfast and wrap the last present for the last birthday of birthday week (finally). God’s got my family, each and every growing kid (plus myself and the Man), and all the complications and challenges that come alongside.

I say that “You got this” is both a prayer and a praise because when we say them, we’re not only choosing to hand over control and rest in God’s sovereignty, but we’re also choosing to celebrate the incredible, mind blowing nature of who God is as the One who’s “got this.”

Thank God that He is God, and we are not. Thank God that we don’t have to “got this” because He already has. What an incredible gift. He’s got this, and “this” covers everything from our salvation to the sundry smallness of our every day.

So, this January as you gear up for what is ahead, whether or not you’re setting goals and resolutions, whether or not you’re writing out all the things in your fancy new planner, whether or not you’re confident in your ability to take on whatever comes this year, may I remind you: you may not “got this,” but God sure does.

God’s got this, which means it really doesn’t matter whether or not you do.

God’s got this, and we can trust in His goodness, even if what He deems to be good sometimes just feels hard to us.

God’s got this…and so, by extension, as His children, because He’s got us, we got this too.