I woke up this morning to a slew of text messages from my sisters from late last night and this morning (because let’s be honest, bed time for me on a Friday night is 10 p.m. these days 🙂 ). I immediately felt uneasy and stressed. Not a great way to start a Saturday. I closed the messages and took a couple deep breaths. Onward.
I continued with my morning ritual of reading the daily Bible devotional on the Eagle Brook Church app. It started with, “Make a mental list of everything you’re anxious about.” Well, let me tell you, my list was long…too long for the amount of time I actually gave to coming up with it (like 15 seconds).
- My mom’s recovery and the long road ahead.
- My dad’s health.
- Mackenzie’s cold potentially getting worse.
- Mackenzie’s eating habits and whether she’s getting enough nutrition.
- How to discipline (yes, we’re definitely going to have to start doing that very soon).
- Staying on top of my heavy load at work.
- My sisters’ stress and frustrations, which I feel like I’m partly to blame for.
- What feedback I was going to get about a big project I led at work.
- Whether anyone will read this blog.
- All the things I want to get done around the house.
- When I’m going to get pregnant with baby #2 (God willing).
- How family dynamics are going to change with another baby.
- Losing touch with friends with the busyness of life.
- How everything feels a little squishier and my clothes are feeling just a little tighter because I haven’t worked out in three weeks.
And those are the ones I can actually remember. As I read on, it was like God knew exactly the words I needed to hear. The devotional was about our human instinct to worry and get ahead of ourselves, which is futile considering none of us are promised tomorrow.
This part in particular spoke to me: “Our Sovereign God will take care of us. He loves us, and He’s working it all out for our good – so we truly can leave the future in His hands and find peace in the joys of today.”
The verse was Matthew 6:34, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
And the prayer was, “Lord, you know that _____ stresses me out. I can feel the anxiety building in my heart – but I hear you today. I know I shouldn’t worry about tomorrow. So I’m deciding to hand it over to you today, knowing that you are sovereign and loving. Thank you in advance for taking care of me!”
This really hit home for me today, so much so, that I wanted to share it with you – in case you needed the same message.