Today is my mother's 96th birthday. A few years back one of my daughters asked her, "Gma, what's a secret for living so long?" and my mother answered, "Don't worry."
The Bible has direct commands that tell us not to worry and the only way I've found to keep from falling into that sin is to focus on God's promises. I also have been praying lately day by day that God will help me to recognize His goodness and praise and thank Him for it. Worry doesn't exist very well in the company of praise, as Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6,7.
Lately, though, I've found myself 'concerned' (euphemism for worry) about how God will provide enough clothing items for my Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes this year. Though it's not required, I like to put some item of clothing in my boxes--a shirt, shorts, etc. So I'll need more than 6,000 more. And the sales where I usually find these items haven't materialized this year so far. I've been 'thinking' (euphemism for concerned) about this quite a lot.
At Grace Church yesterday Pastor Al preached about financial freedom. One of his teaching points was the importance of being financially free in order to avoid worry. As I was following his text and turned to Matthew 6, my eyes fell instantly to verse 28 and I read, "And why do you worry about clothes?"
Yes, Lord.
Wow! How powerful is that? God was really really talking to you.
ReplyDeleteMy Pastor spoke on financial freedom yesterday as well. Maybe they're in the same bff club. :)