No Worries!

Give all your worries and cares to God,
for he cares about you. ~ 1 Peter 5:7 NLT

I am one of those who has taken up the challenge to read the Who I Am sheet aloud for forty days. Each day I ask the Spirit to show me which one of my new identities in Christ he wants me to ponder.  Recently it was “God listens to me and answers my prayers.” One of the verses associated with that is Romans 8:26, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. … the Holy Spirit prays for us …. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”

Other verses along my rabbit trail, like John 15:7, helped remind me that God knows what we need and that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are both interceding on our behalf to the Father.  I had to stop and ponder that. 

We are so important to God that he cares enough to know what each of us needs at every moment of the day and also to prepare us for the years ahead.  When something occurs in our life that catches us off guard, it is no surprise to our God.  Jesus has been praying for us before we hit our knees!  God cares for us with an intensity that should surprise us.  He has already made the way to get us out of the painful situations we may find ourselves in. 

But we forget, or have never believed, that as his little children, Father God loves us and will care for us.  So, instead, we choose to worry and fret, losing sleep and making ourselves miserable, even physically sick with worry. In doing so, we elevate the problem above the God who has repeatedly proven to be more than worthy of our trust.

The next time we are tempted to worry, let’s stop and talk to Jesus, our Lord and Savior who rescues us.  Then let’s give our cares to him and trust that he is working all things for our good.  Let’s listen to him and do what he tells us to do.  He will do the heavy lifting.  God may not answer our prayers the way we expect, but it will be in the way that we need most and that will glorify him.  Think of how much time and energy we would save if we trusted him with all our cares!  And how much peace and comfort we would enjoy.

Dear friends, be blessed as you choose to give all your cares to Jesus.  As you do, be blessed as you receive his peace and comfort.  Believe that you are loved and precious to your Father God today.  Return his love by choosing to draw close to his heart, take hold of his hand and trust him. Amen.

Mary Sumner ~February 14, 2023