I will write more later. I want to do one last final summer catching up blog and hope to do so tonight if I can find the time and energy. But we have started school this week and it has been a very busy adjustment. Part of me thinks I am asking for too much out of myself, out of the kids and I need to just chill out. Part of me thinks I just allowed myself to be too lazy this summer and the hard reality of starting back to school is catching up with me. Could be both. Whatever the reality, I read this devotional this morning and it cut straight through to my heart. Ok, I'm going to give you two. I was behind and I read several of them, and both of these hit home... I'm so thankful too that I was behind, because I needed these today.
From "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young
July 19:
"Bring me all your feelings, even the ones you wish you didn't have. Fear and anxiety still plague you. Feelings per se are not sinful, but they can be temptations to sin. Blazing missiles of fear fly at you day and night; these attacks from the evil one come at you relentlessly. Use your shield of faith to extinguish those flaming arrows. Affirm your trust in Me, regardless of how you feel. If you persist, your feelings will eventually fall in line with your faith.
"Do not hide from your fear or pretend it isn't there. Anxiety that you hide in the recesses of your heart will give birth to fear of fear: a monstrous stepchild. Bring your anxieties out into the Light of My Presence, where we can deal with them together. Concentrate on trusting Me, and fearfulness will gradually lose its foothold within you."
Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 1:5-7; Isaiah 12:2
July 26:
"Relax and let Me lead you through this day. I have everything under control: My control. You tend to peer anxiously into the day that is before you, trying to figure out what to do, and when. Meanwhile, the phone or the doorbell rings, and you have to reshuffle your plans. All that planning ties you up in knots and distracts you from Me. Attentiveness to Me is not only for your quiet time, but for all your time. As you look to Me, I show you what to do now and next.
"Vast quantities of time and energy are wasted in obsessive planning. When you let Me direct your steps, you are set free to enjoy Me and to find what I have prepared for you this day."
Psalm 32:8; Psalm 119:35; Psalm 143:8
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
More Later...
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2 comments:
As usual, Katie, you have hit the nail on the head for me. Fear is one of those things I struggle with daily ... thanks for sharing. Hang in there with school, we have had a rough week, too, but we must remind ourselves that this (like so many other things in life) is a marathon, not a sprint!
Jennifer, I am right there with you. I struggle with a lot of anxiety. I heard Joni Ereckson Tada say the other night that our cross to bear is not our physical or mental ailments, or our plaguing relatives, but our attitudes in response to those things. It flew all over me. I plan to listen to that talk online again soon. I am really learning to let God take care of me, but it's such a process and I have by no means arrived. I am thankful though, that day by day, little by little, He's changing me...
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