Worrying

Are these saying familiar? "Why worry when you can pray"? OR, "Worrying means you are not trusting"? We have heard these over and over if you have been in the Christian realm for any length of time. But do we really believe it? It's really only when push comes to shove that we know if these are just "Christianise" or if they are truly believed in our hearts.
A verse in Luke 12 is quoted a lot of times: "...how much more valuable you are than birds!" But the parable before this section on worrying really needs to be looked at in conjunction with what Jesus is telling his disciples about our value. In Luke 12: 13-21, Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool who is blessed with a lot of "stuff". The rich man decides that in order to store all of his stuff he will tear down his barns and build bigger and better barns. And then, the rich man says to himself "You have plenty of good thing laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry" Luke 12:19. But God calls this man a fool! Why? Because this rich man was so worried about himself. He was so worried about his stuff! He was so caught up in things that he had forgotten about God. He had forgotten about building up for himself "treasure in heaven" and instead was focused on obtaining stuff on this earth.
Do we worry more because we have so much stuff? When our church staff members visit the slums in India, they come back every time commenting on how happy these people are. These people of NO stuff as compared to what we have here in America. Even the poorest of person here has more than those living in the Indian slums.
Is that why Jesus immediately turns to his disciples and says "why do you worry"? Jesus knows how much we love our stuff. BUT he says, "the pagan world runs after all such things.." don't worry about running after the stuff! Your Father in heaven knows that you need food, drink, and clothing so don't worry about accumulating such stuff!
So...when I'm lying awake in bed at night worrying...My Father in heaven is saying to me "O you of little faith" trust me! Worrying is not going to add a single hour to you life. Worrying only causes stress, tension, broken relationships, harsh words, and health problems! It is in these moments of sleeplessness I have to say "Yes, Father. I know you will provide. Let me thank you for all the many blessings that you have provided me!"And I pour out my thanksgiving to God and then the peace descends upon me like a gentle rain from heaven! Thank you Father! Thank you for reminding me that stuff is nothing to be worrying about!

Share in the Suffering?

Awww babies! Specifically my babies (not really babies because they are six and seven). Our family has certainly been going through some hard times. Daddy was laid off from a job in November. This came as a total shock and surprise to us. My husband has gone through a grieving period and self pity at times. I have gone through bouts of anger and sadness. BUT through these periods of emotions, both of us have felt increasingly blessed! Tremendously blessed! God has used people that we don't even know and those who don't have much themselves to bless us with material provisions. But our babies. How have they fared through this time? Do they feel the same emotions that Paul and I feel? I didn't think my children were being effected...however, I was so wrong. Last week, our son was sick. For the first couple of days he was out of school, he truly was sick w/ a bad cold. But the days kept dragging on. By Thursday, we told him that he must go to school, but after the second trip to the school office, they called us to come pick him up. So, my husband and I spent a lot of time w/ our son on Friday. Really trying to get to the root of what was bothering him....was it something at school, was it someone picking on him at recess, was someone hurting him...All we could really get was that at recess "they" were mean to him. After talking w/ his teacher, we really didn't feel this might be what was bothering him. So we came to the conclusion that daddy losing his job was worrying him but he didn't really know how to express this....so it was being expressed in a "stomach ache", big crocodile tears when we told him he had to go to school, and expressions of missing his daddy. So, at dinner last night, we sat down at dinner and had a talk as a family. We really tried to explain what was happening and that even is the very worst case scenario we would never, ever be without a place to live or food to eat. We also talked about all kinds of people that God was using to bless us in this time- people we sometimes don't even know, people who really don't have any to give but are anyway and also how God has placed us where we are for this instance so that we have access to a food bank and tons of support. It became evident in our conversation that our son was truly worried about our situation. We talked through how we had savings to use and our son offered up his savings. How precious!
We thought this had given him some peace but this morning the "stomach ache" and the crocodile tears started up again. So...I think this is going to be a process. I feel really bad that my husband and I didn't think earlier how this may be effecting our babies! How our comments although made innocently enough like "we can't afford that right now" or "once daddy gets a job" were causing stress and anxiety in our little 7-yr. old. Sometimes we can be so dense as parents. I can only pray that now we have discovered how this is effecting our son, we can in the future be more up front when our family is facing difficult situations!