I DID IT AGAIN!

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matthew 6: 25-29 (English Standard Version)

We have moved about seventeen times. My husband is a United Methodist minister. Does the word itinerant explain anything? Usually, the night before we would move, I couldn’t sleep. I kept rearranging furniture in the new parsonage in my head. I did it again last night.

No, we’re not going to move - at least not now. We are debating "down sizing." To my husband, that means a smaller house. To me, it means no second story but the same square footage spread out over the main floor. So, we tour open-houses once in a while. That’s what we did yesterday.

The house had many features I liked. Then I spent about three hours of my sleep time knocking out walls, bumping out a master-suite and four-season room, lowering one wall to half size, relocating the laundry room, and arranging family antiques throughout the house. To me, that doesn’t qualify as anxiety. It’s more, inappropriate time devoted to obsessing. Whatever the label, I wasted valuable sleep time on a house we don’t even own. Woe is me. Or better put, silly thou art.

I thank the Lord that I wasn’t worrying about a sick child or husband, the future of my job, or if we can afford food. But, how do we turn off the stew-button or busy-switch and place our mind on God?

I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t trying to distract my thinking. I enjoyed the amateur architectural work and home design. I realized my sleep time was poorly spent when it was time to get up. Scripture tells us, He will give us perfect peace when our mind is stayed on Him. So, if our lack of sleep were actually due to worry or anxiety, the passage from Matthew printed above is our reminder of the promise of release from that which binds us.

God knows our needs. Worrying about them solves nothing. Perhaps we need to rest in God so we can have the insight and clearness of mind to allow Him to guide us. Sometimes, the Lord will direct us to a gifted physician who can prescribe anti-anxiety or antidepressant medication when the negative emotion is caused from a chemical imbalance in the brain. Whatever the need, prayer therapy can also help bring peace when we pray specifically for release from anxiety, so the Lord can answer specifically. Our prayer today, is for release from anxiety. Let us pray:

"Father God, maker of all there is, holy, holy, holy is your name. May your kingdom came and make its home in my heart, so that I might know you as the angels in heaven do. For today, Lord, I pray for release from anxiety that eats way at the person you created me to be. Forgive me when I have turned my back on others who are anxious or their heart is in need. I know they cannot do it on their own. But, you can calm their heart and rid their lives of anxiety as you are doing for me. I ask for release for them and for me so that we may better serve you. For these things I give you the glory, for only you are worthy of praise. In the name of Jesus, your son and our redeemer I pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
Go to www.dorisgainesrapp.com for book signing events.