Unknowns, uncertainty, un-planning… it’s all unsettling for a recovering-by-grace control freak like myself. It’s hard to look forward to anything when you can’t know what’s ahead.
Add to that the reality of the present – the loss of work, the bills that keep coming, the family to feed, the holidays to somehow make festive…
Are you overcome with anxiety about it all?
I’ve shared many stories over the years of how God has miraculously provided for our family. He’s done it again and again.
If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that He is faithful.
Please understand: I recognize my faith in His faithfulness is a gift. It’s not something I created or conjured up myself. It’s been cultivated in the soil of suffering, through seasons of drought and hunger and need.
It is in the wildernesses that God is able to show us His power and provision. If we were self-sufficient, we’d have no need of Him.
In Matthew 6 and Philippians 4, God’s Word urges us to “not be anxious” about anything – “what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.”
Sure, it’s easier said than done. It takes practice. So, how do you practice that? You listen to God’s Word, you read it, you think about it, you remind yourself of it even if it doesn’t FEEL true.
And you choose to anticipate the fulfillment of His promises.
“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?… Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:25-33, ESV).”
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19, ESV)”
It was Elizabeth Elliot who taught me that if I don’t have it, I don’t need it. Because if I did need it, God would have provided it.
Trust Him. And if you struggle to trust Him, you need to know Him more. Because He is trustworthy.
Press in. Draw closer.
He is good. He is faithful. And He loves you.
