Drops of Sunshine - Daily Bread

 

 

 

I need to be comfortable when I'm driving. So, during winter months, I can't sit behind the wheel comfortably being bundled up in my winter finest. The coat has to come off. We can experience a similar discomfort in our lives when we keep a tight grip on the weights of our worries and a sinful lifestyle. Like my coat, those weights become restrictive and begin to weigh us down. 

It gets easier to exude confidence when you've learned to trust. Rather than wallow in fear and worry, you are instead able to rest in the comfort of knowing that God's taking care of you. I equate it to a visit to the grocery store and swiping your card. Either you are confidently certain you have funds to cover the transaction or you're desperately hoping there is just enough to work for this one transaction. Our goal with our faith is to become confidently certain.

We desire the best for the people we love. As does God for us. Rather than cling to the things that trouble you, talk it with God and release it into his care. He already knows the perfect solution for the problem. He's waiting for us to loosen our grip so he can show us how simple it really is just to trust him.

Letting go of our troubles and relying on someone else to handle it is not easy. Yet, life teaches us the importance of letting go when we do trust someone else to tackle it. If I were to hand you a Rubik's cube and ask you to solve it for me, it'd be a little challenging for you to do so if I don't let it go, right? That's exactly what God wants us to do with those woes and worries. Let them go.

It's amazing how our troubles and worries can rapidly consume our thoughts. At times, they gain so much of our attention that giving God reverence begins to take a back seat. It's during such troubling times that we have to remind ourselves that God is and will always be in control. 

I used to always hear people say, "Don't worry, pray". I used to struggle with that because I felt like something was wrong with me for battling those moments of anxiety. But one day I heard my father say, "Even when you worry, pray" and it completely changed my perspective. It's so simple, yet I realized that I wasn't doing it. In every situation we find ourselves (happy, sad, mad, or glad), we should always pray.

Each day, it becomes increasingly vital for our overall well being to be able to have some semblance of control over our emotions. I listened to a writer/speaker on the topic of perfectionism. She hit on a very valid point that I held on to ever since, but I incorporate my spiritual belief into it. It's simply this. In a world where Satan is always busy, tearing us down mentally and trying to convince us that we aren't good enough and never will be, he doesn't need my help. And I'm not willing to offer it. I don't want anxiety or worry over what circumstances look like to dominate my mental bandwidth. This is a time when we need to be in prayer, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves facing. The more we pray and the more we exercise our faith, the less room Satan has to convince us that whatever we're dealing with is hopeless. Keep trusting and believing God to turn those situations around for you.