The closer someone is to us, the harder it is to trust God to take care of them. Sure, we think we’re trusting Him when He’s raining down the blessings. But when God starts tearing into the lives of our loved ones, our natural instinct is to panic and fret that He’s letting things get out of control. Well, He’s not, and we won’t see the day that we can do a better job than He can. Relinquishing control is the key here: we need to detach ourselves from the lives of those we care about and stop trying to carry their burdens with them. Get alone with God, close your eyes, and picture God standing right in front of you. Choose a mental image to represent the person you care about: a delicate baby, a flower, a baby animal, a crystal figurine—whatever symbol feels like a fit to you. It needs to be something you can imagine yourself holding in your arms. When you feel burdened by other people’s issues, it’s because you’re trying to carry those issues and the weight is wiping you out. Now picture yourself holding whatever symbol you’ve chosen for the person you’re concerned about. Then mentally hand that symbol over to God and place it in His waiting arms. Take your hands entirely away and step back. See God having total control over that person. This is a mental exercise that helps you practice trust and submission to God. Souls are His property—not yours. As God, He gets to do whatever He wants with whoever He wants. You need to practice submitting to His Authority and entirely letting go of the people you care about. Everything must be surrendered into God’s hands. This kind of exercise can really help you let go of the emotional burden of feeling like it’s on you to fix someone else. It’s not on you, it’s on God, and He is more than able.