“Lay it over there.  Yes, anywhere is fine.  No worries.  Just toss it down, anywhere.”
Does it really matter where we place our old self (when we become God’s child and when place our trust in Him)?
Do we wish to lay it (our old self) in a prominent place with the intention of picking it back up, putting it back on, and wearing it again?
We scream, “No!!!  No way!”
YET…….every time we trust in our own power, every time we look to our own Self-Reliance more than to our reliance of God’s power, we quite possibly have (at least) picked up our old self just for safekeeping, and just so we can “help God” do what WE KNOW HE SHOULD DO IN OUR SITUATION.

Let me explain with an example.
See a flat whiteness.  The snow was beyond knee-deep. It was troublesome to my parents, but to Ronnie and me, we were in heaven (on earth).
The thing about Indiana snow, when it falls, the ones who are in charge of snow removal like to first push it into huge piles.  That was exactly what dad had done. He needed to remove the large snowfall from the barnyard gate, so he started his tractor, attached his grader box, and pushed the snow into a heap.
Have you ever seen snow in a heap?
Well, let me tell you.

Snow in a heap is a treasure for a nine-year-old and her seven-year-old brother.
“Let’s build an igloo.”
I am not sure who came up with this great idea, but there it lay—-a great idea (or so we thought).
The snow was piled in a large heap, pushed there earlier that morning by our dad, already piled up high, and all we had to do was channel out the interior part to build our proposed igloo.  EASY!!!!
So we began to work as soon as dad went into the barn to feed.  We had time. The sun was shining, the world was cold, and the igloo was going to last several days….we only need to channel out the interior.
EASY PEASY  (or so we thought).

Dad did not know our plan, for if he did, then I am sure he would have stopped us.  Piled snow is not deep, really.  Maybe four or five or six feet deep.  All one had to do was stand up, and the snow would be gone from over top of our body.   (At least that’s what we thought), but I had no experience building an igloo.  I grew up in the state of Indiana and not Alaska.
Even if the structure were unstable, all we had to do was stand up, and we would be fine.  Right!!!??
My younger brother went into the snow pile with his borrowed shovel, and I took my corn crib shovel another direction.
“This is looking good,”  I remember thinking as I crawled on all fours back to the mouth of our not-so-deep igloo.  “We’re going to play out here for days,” I imagined.  “Life can’t get much better,”……I also thought,

BUT THEN I realized just how much WORSE life can become in a split second.
I remember crawling back toward the “mouth” of our igloo cave to get something (I don’t remember what today), but what I do remember is the large pile of snow and how it can cave in so quickly when it’s channeled out to create passageways and rooms.
That’s the image I see still today when I remember our proposed snow igloo two Indiana-raised kids tried to build on that cold, winter day.

“RON,” I SCREAMED, as I saw the snow cave in where he was digging.

Now there is a truth we need to realize—-Snow is Snow is Snow is Snow, and when we look at Snow that covers the earth, Snow looks just like Snow. 
“He just needed to stand up,” I remember thinking.  Now, I have come to realize the weight of snow can become when it’s piled upon one’s tiny, seven-year-old body.
The weight held my brother captive.
The whiteness of all the snow hid his small body and made it impossible for this nine-year-old girl to begin to know where to dig; so, I did the only thing I knew to do.

“DADDY!!!” I screamed as I dropped my corn shovel and ran toward the barn.
“DADDY, PLEASE HELP ME!!!”
“I CAN’T FIND RONNIE!!!

I screamed and I ran as fast as my legs would go toward the barn where dad fed that morning. Dad heard my cry & I did not need to run the full way because when I cried out, He Heard Me, and He Came Running Toward Me!

The Bible gives us direction.   We don’t necessarily need to know exactly where we should turn in the Bible to find the answer we seek.
We only need to PICK UP THE BIBLE & BEGIN DIGGING IN GOD’S WORD.

WE TURN TOWARD HIM, CRY OUT TO HIM, & GOD DOES THE REST. GOD COMES RUNNING!!!
Dad heard me that day, (Thank You, God), and that corn shovel, the one borrowed from the corn crib helped so much because dad saw my area of struggle and immediately ran to that spot.  No hesitation. Dad dug in, and the thing we should realize about my “dad”……HE is so much stronger than I, and dad’s strength allowed him to move tons of snow as he began digging in the place where just moments earlier lay the mouth of our igloo.

Whenever we begin striving to live LESS Self-Reliant & MORE GOD-Reliant. That’s when we begin to…..

Whenever we cry out to our Father, “Daddy help me,” and realize that we cannot save our brother, but realize that God can….That’s when we begin to……

That day (way back when I was nine), God began revealing to me the strength of my heavenly Father in comparison to my weakness, and That day, God revealed the contrast of His power compared to my power—The day when my brother almost died, the day when my earthly dad dug out my brother’s small body from the mountain of snow.
It is a truth that mere minutes below a mound of snow turns a small body to shades of red and blue…all at the same time.
That day, I stood there watching as my dad picked up the corn crib shovel and gently began moving the fluffy-white snow that had suddenly fallen onto my brother with a heaviness, with the oppressive weight that heavy snow can bring.

MY BROTHER COULD NOT (JUST) STAND UP (AS I THOUGHT).
NO!!!! MY BROTHER WAS TRAPPED UNDERNEATH THE SNOW, UNDERNEATH THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD.

The once fluffy-white snow was now like the weight of the world crushing down upon his small body.

Dad moved quickly. 
Dad dug with diligence.  &
Dad saved my brother that day.
Dad knew just what to do to rescue my brother & save his life.

I only need to call out to HIM and to then stand there, watching HIM—as HE dug in the snow pile—-as HE SAVED MY BROTHER.

That day, I learned how to call out to God.
That day, I learned how NOT to rely upon myself, but how to rely upon MY DAD.
That day, I learned how NOT to rely upon myself, but how to rely upon MY HEAVENLY FATHER.

That day, I learned how we…….

That day, I stood there (in all the whiteness) and watched my dad save my brother.
That day, I stood there and saw how “my daddy” pulled my brother from the oppressive weight and revived him  back to life.

That day, I stood there and saw how to “LAY IT ASIDE…& TRUST IN GOD.”