For all you worriers out there...

Today, I praise the God of my salvation, my rock and sustainer. He remains faithful always, despite my faithless ways. I am overwhelmed by His grace and mercy. I am grateful that His love never fails. This week has been extremely hard, spiritually and emotionally. I allowed the cares of this world to pull me down and cause me to take my eyes off of Jesus, my prize. The many times I heard His voice calling out to me to turn to Him, I just pretended not to hear. I chose to deal with stress on my own. Funny how we think we are so strong and powerful to do things on our own, until we realize we can barely stand on our own.

I worry about the future way too much. Sometimes I'll even worry about what's going to happen in the next five minutes. But I love Christ's comforting words in Matthew 6: "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? 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?" (v.25-27)

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matt. 6:33)

Something I had to ask myself this morning was, Am I focused on building my kingdom, or God's Kingdom? A lot of times my stress and anxieties stem from trying to make my life work the way I want it to rather than simply doing what God has called me to do. And sometimes what God has called me to do isn't the easiest, but He gives us Christ - everything we need in order to accomplish the tasks. I think the biggest challenge for me right now is enjoying Christ even though life isn't exactly how I'd like it to be. But I know that He is faithful - He always has been and He always will be.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 - "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."