I confess to being a worrier, especially at this time of year. Pastors will be moving soon, lives will be uprooted, churches will be facing leadership changes and challenges. Our missions and our churches need resources and leadership.
So I worry.
God never encourages us to worry. God teaches us to replace worry with faith. For example:
“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers – most of which are never even seen – don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do His best for you? What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works worry over these things but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. — Mathew 6:30-33
— If God can provide for wildflowers, God can provide for you and me.
— God will attend to you, take pride in you, do His best for you.
— Relax.
— Try not to be preoccupied with getting but respond to God’s giving.
— People who don’t know God… worry.
— Fill your life in God reality, God initiative, God provisions.
— You will not miss out. All your everyday human concerns will be met.
“The Language of Letting Go” put it another way:
Do not worry about how the good that has been planned for you will come. It will come.
Do not worry, obsess that you have to control it, go out hunting for it, or tangle your mind trying to figure out how and when it will find you. It will find you.
Surrender to God each day. Trust God. Then, stay peaceful. Trust and listen to yourself. That is how the good you want will come to you.
Your healing. Your joy. Your relationships. Your solutions. That job. That desired change. That opportunity. It will come to you – naturally, with ease and in a host of ways.
That answer will come. The direction will come. The money. The idea. The energy. The creativity. The path will open itself to you. Trust that, for it has already been planned.
It is futile, a waste and drain of energy, to worry about how it will come. It is already there. You have it already. It is in place. You just cannot see it!
You will be brought to it, or it will be brought to you. — The Language of Letting Go
I don’t want to worry. I want to have faith.
So, rather than worry… I will pray for myself, for you, for your church and your community, for our district and conference. I will pray.
Lord, help me to replace my worry with faith. Faith that the good that has been planned will come. Help me to surrender to you each day. Help me to trust you and your promises. Help me to stay peaceful. Help me to trust that the answers I seek will come. The direction will come. The money, the ideas, the energy, the creativity will all come. I don’t need to worry but I do need to have faith and trust in You who created the universe… In You who died for me and rose again to show me the way to eternal life. In You who provides the gift of the Holy Spirit for our guidance and comfort.
Silence. Breathe.
Thank you God for providing for the wildflowers to be a continual witness of how you provide for me. I feel your presence already. I can relax. Thank you for the promises, only You can make and deliver. Thank you for replacing my worry with faith. Thank you for showing me the way. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Psalm 55:9
