God as the source, me as dependant

I just read ch 3 of How People Grow and there was some really good stuff in there. (I am reading this book for a class on biblical counseling I am taking, so we have assigned chapters to read every week.) The chapter was basically about putting God into the big picture, as well as the small stuff.

I'm going to generalize here for a minute. As Christians, we so often put God only in the big picture stuff. We say okay God, you can deal with this and that, but I will take care of everything else. We need to depend on God for it all. But what exactly does that mean. When I was little, my mother always had derogatory words to say about a lady she knew. The lady depended on God for everything, including fixing her washer. It sticks in my head because my mother was so mean about the lady and said things like, "How stupid is it to think that God will fix your washer." She said it with total contempt and venom in her voice. I think some of my attitude comes from that. Will God fix the washer? He may send someone to fix it. But he may also expect us to use our brains and call a washer repair person. I know my mother's attitude was wrong, but where is the line? When it comes to the small stuff, how much do we depend on God? How much do we take care of things ourselves? I am not sure where the balance is.

To get personal, I have learned that I can depend on God, but I don't depend on him for everything. I am slowly giving over areas of my life to God, but more often than not, I take something back that I have decided to let him handle. I think the hardest thing for me to give up to his power will be my relationships. It is scary to trust God with that and open myself up to total vulnerability in my relationships and to God. But I will be taking one step at a time. God has convicted me of some big things in this area and I need to follow that conviction. I need to give over my trust issues in this area to God. Experience tells me it will be more than I could have imagined. Life and my childhood tells me to hold back. But holding back means staying stuck and not knowing what God can really do with my relationships if I let him. Therefore, with small steps, and trust in what I know of God, I will move forward.