His Word sustains us

About 7 months back, I made a decision to run to the Word of God whenever I felt anxious. Looking back, I've not always done that! I cannot say honestly that I've completely stopped worrying. Today, Our Daily Bread devotional had another challenging message on "worry".

Worry could be caused due to:

• a lack of gratitude for the way God has cared for us in the past. (this hit me hard!)
  
• a lack of faith that God really is trustworthy.
  
• depending on ourselves instead of God.

To put it strongly, it is a sin to worry.

The Word of God, spending time reading and meditating on it, and just spending some quiet time in His presence, takes away our anxieties. His Word sustains us.

When that prayer request that you've been making to God for sometime now, does not seem to be answered, just hold on. God knows what you're going through. God knows what you need. God is in control. God loves you :)

Bring it to Me!

Every time the anger roars in your heart. Bring it to Me.

Every time you feel like nobody hears you. Bring it to Me.

When you think it isn't fair. When you think it isn't true. When you can't think at all.

Bring it to My feet, and I will make an altar from your suffering.

The above words are from Angela, a mother who is going through a tough time. Read her blog for details. I just couldn't help but cry when reading her posts.

Jesus said: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Once when faced with a hopeless situation, I forgot all scripture ... I just couldn't pray. Like Angela said, "when you can't think at all", which is what happened. And I denied God. I started saying, there is no God. I'm so ashamed to think about that moment. But thank God for His tender mercies. When others knelt down to pray, I poured my heart out too and got His peace.

I pray that when we're facing the worst crisis of our life, we'll remember Jesus' call: Bring it to Me!

We worry

We worry. We know it’s a waste of time. Yet a lot of us find ourselves in this dilemma—we know we should trust God, but we wonder just what He’s going to do.

The above lines hit me hard when I read the devotional passage from Our Daily Bread!

I've been going through some anxious times running around for my wedding preparations, balancing my commitments to places where I've volunteered, my job, the need to rent out a house to start my family and so many other unexpected tasks. I've started praying more than I usually do (which isn't much in the first place). But still I seem ill-equipped to face all the challenges. Frequently, I'm getting anxiety attacks and get down to dangerously low levels of faith.

And yes, I realized that worrying is a waste of time. But I just couldn't help myself.

Through the devotional passage, the truth has struck me that I need to run to His Word, cast all my cares upon Him, for He cares for me.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you - 1 Peter 5:7

I'm going to do that from now on to overcome my anxiety attacks.