April 3, 2016

Trusting God

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 4:6-7

This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Some days I don’t know why. I am an expert at worrying, something that is sadly distressing to me.

I read one of those Facebook graphics recently that said worry indicates that you don’t trust God. I thought about that for a moment. It’s true, you know. It really is. When I’m worried about something, it means that I either don’t believe God can handle or I don’t believe God will handle it.

None of us can control all the circumstances around us. Other people make choices and, whether we like it or not, we are left with the consequences. And the uncertainty. The list of things we can’t control seems endless.

But we can control how we react to the stresses of life. We can turn our worries into prayer. “God I am so worried that my child is mixed up with the wrong crowd. Please keep him close and protect him.” Or “God I scared my job will be eliminated. How will I feed my family? Please provide for us.”

Then what? Leave it with Him. That’s really where I face the greatest challenge. I give it to God. And then I take it back. Again and again and again. Truly, it as though I’ve got to fix it because surely He either won’t or He’s decided to wait awhile. I’m not good at waiting.

There you go. I’m not good at waiting. I not only want God to fix whatever it is, I want Him to do it right now! God’s timeline and mine are rarely the same. But you know what? He’s always right on time. Always. Never late. Never early. Always right. You would think I would learn to just let it go and trust that He’ll do whatever is necessary when the time is right.

Trusting God is a conscious choice. It is knowing that He loves us. It is believing that He will always turn bad to good if we will give it to Him. It is leaning into His embrace and letting His strength carry us when we are too tired to take another step.

Worry doesn’t belong in the hearts and minds of God’s children. He’s got this. Really. He does. So let Him keep it.