For the Days When We Worry.... (Guest Post)

Well.... it happened.  And honestly, I can't say I'm surprised... I got Isaac's cold.  Because really, how can I possibly resist kissing his adorable cheeks just because he has a cold?  I can't!  So... here I sit.  Sniffling and sneezing till I think my head might fall off.  Fun mental picture, huh?  Sorry. :)

Anyway, in light of the fact that I do most of my writing during Isaac's naps, and the fact that today, I am in need of a nap.... I'm leaving you in the hands of my incredible, sweet, Jesus-loving, gospel-teaching husband. He sent this out in the form of an email a couple mornings ago to the house church that we lead together... and it is so good that I just have to give you all this taste of his heart...  SO... Without further ado... meet my husband Stan. :)

For the Days When We Worry...

Dear Friends,

I am up early this morning with the Lord and I really feel his encouragement to guard ourselves from fretting. Here are the verses that I got from Ps 37:

• Ps 37:1 - do not fret because of those who are evil
• Ps 37:7b - do not fret when people succeed in their ways
• Ps 37:8b - do not fret—it leads only to evil

I really feel like this is an area in which the Lord wants to partner with us... taking our eyes off what is naturally discerned and outside our control and putting our eyes on what is spiritually discerned and controlled by God. 

This is a discipline that takes meditating on the Word in order to seal up the gaping, black abyss of worry and step into the spacious, sunlit place of faith in God's character and promises.

Here are the verses in that same psalm that we can use to counteract worry:

• Ps 37:4 - Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart... 
• Ps 37:5-6 - Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
• Ps 37:7 - Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him (to me, this means stop the mental exercise of trying to fix my own problems)

If these verses do not bring you peace (they might even frustrate you), then I invite you to meditate on them.... write them out, speak them out loud, permanently ingrain them in your mind... then ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom to discern them, and He will give it! We have the mind of Christ, we have his Spirit as our counselor, so believe it and act on it (I'm speaking to myself here). 

I don't claim that if we do what the Lord is asking us to do, our problems will go away, only that we will enjoy peace in the midst of things that USED to trouble us and eat us up with anxiety.

Grace and peace ARE ours in abundance today... they were purchased for us, now let's take hold of them!

-Stan

Ummm, hey.  It's Dana again.  I just have to leave you with this very brief, completely unrelated (but helpful in that it allows you to know a bit of my hubby's personality) video. (I didn't tell him I was going to do this... Ha.... Don't be upset with me, babe! ;)  ) 

 Enjoy... (You'll want to stop the music if you're listening to it by scrolling up to the top of the page and pausing the audio player.)

**You may have to turn up your computer's volume fairly loud... for some reason this vid turned out a little quiet.**