Trust in God, not worry

First I wanted to ask everyone what they think that title means, how would someone put trust in worry? Discussion Some things I worry about because it is the only way I know how to function in those situations. With those things I have not trusted God with them so doing so in the moment feels unsure and foreign whereas trusting in the worry is what I know. A few years ago one of the artists I like released a song with the lyric “There's comfort in the panic”. This artist had struggled with depression for a long time. I think this lyric is very much related to trusting in worry. The panic, though chaotic and uncertain, was a comfort because he knew it, he was familiar with it, its ins and outs, the ups and downs. He knew he survived panic before, so he could now. Other ways are foreign, so why change strategies when you think you know how to navigate it. What we discussed so far was to get us thinking about this topic, but how does it look like in real life?

tweet Erik Reed is a pastor of a church in TN and his son was born very early and needed surgery to remove one of his kidneys because of a growth. The doctors accidentally removed both kidneys so then after a few years of dialysis he received a transplant from his mother, which allowed him to live a relatively normal life until the event that occurs in the story I'm about to read.

“One day at a time.” That became the motto of my family when my son had a stroke in October 2017 from fungal meningitis. His stroke change our lives. We had no idea if he would survive the meningitis, and if he did, what brain function or abilities was he retaining. This was my son, guys. My only son. We were devastated, and scared.

Proverbs 3:5-6 quickly became a passage we held to: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.“

Trust God with all of our hearts. Do not lean or trust in our own understanding. That's a wonderful coffee mug passage, but it is incredibly difficult to do when you don't know if your child is going to survive. Every moment of every day was intense. Spinal taps. CT scans. Blood results. We were always on the edge of our seats. Our hearts rode a rollercoaster each day. Fear comes in and out. What if's start piling up. Exhaustion sets in. We finally reach a point where Jesus' admonition to not worry about tomorrow really set in (Mt. 6). Tomorrow would have its own troubles. We needed help and grace for that day. We needed to trust the LORD for today's needs. And that's how the mantra arose: one day at a time. People would ask, “How are y'all doing?” We'd answer, “We're taking it one day at a time.” “How are y'all doing this?” “God's giving us grace one day at a time.” That became a massive lesson for us: God doesn't give you grace in advance of your trials, so you can imagine going through them. He gives you grace in your trials. He gives you today's manna. One day at a time trust in God is how we're all supposed to live. Only when we let our eyes wander ahead and let our minds race ahead to a future we don't control does our hearts sink into despair, fear, and worry. We stopped looking ahead. “God, help us today.” That's the only place where we can live—is today—so that's where we need grace. This lesson would serve us for the next two years, and beyond. Kaleb would recover from his meningitis, but the effects of the stroke did significant damage to his body. He would live two more years and died December 1st, 2019.

This topic was on my mind because Shayne recently announced he would retire from his 35yr pastorate at Lockwood and this will likely cause at least some to think often about the what ifs and what can be done, which can easily spill over into worry.

Go back home.