What do you do with your anxieties and fears? If you are like much of America probably, you run to friends and family and complain…you try to fix things yourself, often making matters worse or only temporarily fixing things…you stuff the emotions down and just keep pressing on, not really dealing with the anxieties/fears.
What does God call us to do?
1 Timothy 5:7 is extremely clear…
”Cast your anxieties on the Lord, for He cares you.”
Not only does God call us to cast our anxieties and fears on Him, to give them to Him, giving Him true control over fixing them. He wants our anxieties and fears, He cares about and loves us and wants to handle those things for us. He wants to give us peace and help us through life’s problems, fears, struggles, etc.
This is a verse I’ve read and memorized in hopes of living it out more in my own walk, but it wasn’t until a week and a half ago or so when my little “brother” J was worried about the weather and telling us that He had prayed to God about what He thought would be a tornado because it was really windy and there was lots of rain a little northeast of us. The radar did not seem to show the rain would make it to us, but rather pass along the side of our city. But J was worried about the winds, and a potential tornado and so he prayed to God, I suspect asking God if there was going to be a tornado. He told us God showed Him a star in the sky, which he interpreted as God showing that the sky would be clear enough for J to see a star and therefore there wouldn’t be a tornado. When we were driving in the car and he was telling us this, it totally clicked. Don’t fear having fears. When you’re afraid, don’t turn first to family and friends and complaining, but instead to God. Give Him you fears in exchange for His peace.
J has always amazed me with his faith, from a lesson in school looking at the suffix –ness and him giving the example words of gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…to me saying I was going to do the World Race and him being my first financial supporter pledging the interest that his savings account would make…to taking his fear to the Lord and just asking God for an answer (peace) over what to Him was a scary situation. The lessons I learn from his faith are numerous, and I am beyond blessed to get to live life with him and get the opportunity to watch him walk out his faith regularly.
Lord, thank you for J. Thank you for his heart for you and his willingness to come to you and to glorify you in all he does. Thank you for what his faith teaches me. I pray that I and everyone reading this would bring our fears to you first thing. Amen.
