Be Anxious for NOTHING

“Be anxious for nothing…”

I have so many other words that I could place in the space for “nothing” in the above quote. A friend is desperately ill in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Another is undergoing his last available option in his treatment for a blood disorder. A third faces surgery on Thursday, and her husband is undergoing chemotherapy in his own cancer battle. There are relatives with disabilities impacting their day-to-day lives, and questions in my mind about what I can or should do to help. Smaller issues, like traveling mercies for a son on his way home, crowd for space in my anxious attentions.

And yet God would have none of it. Oh, I know without a shadow of a doubt that what matters to me, matters to Him. It’s the anxiety over the issues that he wants me to have no part of. And that’s because these issues are nothing compared to His ability and willingness to deal with them, if I would only place them in His care. And when I do, then I have nothing left to worry about. If I begin to be anxious over them again, it’s because I didn’t fully release them to Him in the first place, and I need to backtrack and repeat the procedure until I know that I have truly left them in His capable hands.

He doesn’t guarantee that we will receive the answer we seek in each situation. But we must as a sign of trust give them fully to Him to deal with as He knows best, and believe that whatever answer we get, it’s for the best, whether we understand that yet or not.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” (Philippians 4:6 NKJV)

(photo credit: Unsplash/EvanBuchholz)

 

Smiley Face MOON

 

How can you not have a great day after the nighttime sky has smiled at you?!

Such was the case early this morning. A crescent-shaped moon and the planets Venus and Saturn were to be lined up in such a way that they would present a smiley face in the sky to a watching world.

Not that I was awake to see it. I wish I could write here that I was inspired enough to get up and go look for it! If the dog had needed a potty break in the pre-dawn hours, I would’ve directed my gaze upward and searched the sky for the vision. But she is trained to let me sleep till at least 6:30, and the best sighting was to be in a 15-minute window that ended at 5:45.

Maybe I knew that clouds would obscure the view as they did when my dog and I finally stepped out at 7 a.m., the doorstep still wet from an earlier rain.

Isn’t that true of how many of us live our lives? Clouds of trouble separate us from a clear view of God, and too often we don’t bother to lift our eyes to the skies. He seems so very far away. Invisible. Unreachable.

I like to think the opposite is true – that I didn’t need to get up in the night because I see God beaming at me in the world around me all the time. Even on the darkest days and nights, I’ve known that God loves me and is happy with me – yes, even smiling at me… because the clouds between us don’t affect His love for me, nor His ability to help me reach the sunshine once again. I see His smile in my spirit, and that carries me through.

I love that He still occasionally arranges the world He created in obvious ways to give visual evidence of the fact. And I’ve found that if we keep looking up, the circumstances around us are likely to do the same.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Romans 8:38-39 NIV)

MINDSETS That Bind

 

“Loose the strong man!”

A passage of Scripture had jumped out at me from my morning reading. Jesus was teaching His followers with stories.

I love that!

But the words in particular that grabbed me were a simple sentence or two: “No one can enter a strong person’s house and steal his things unless he first ties up the strong person. Then he can steal things from the house.” (Mark 3:27 NCV)

I know a lot of people right now who are in a period of suffering loss. I wonder how many of them have been tied up by the thief and have had things stolen from them as a result? Health, wealth, freedom… the list is long.

What ties have bound them up? That list can be long, as well. Drugs, disinterest, distrust, distraction… delighting oneself in things other than the Lord.

How can they be rescued? I believe this passage was pointed out to me today as direction on how to pray. “Loose the strong man” are the Words I heard. Rather than praying just for healing and restoration, I need to be praying against the mindsets that hold them bound, that they may be set free to rise and throw the intruder out themselves.

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11 NIV)

(photo credit: Unsplash/EnginAkyurt)