Worship Wednesday - Do Not Worry

 "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?" - Matthew 6:25-26

Do Not Worry - Ellie Holcomb

I have always been a worrier, so this has always been at the top of my favorite scriptures. I can find it even without remembering the numbers because I have turned to it so many times. Normal life gives us enough circumstances to worry and be anxious, living through a Pandemic just adds another level. Every decision we make right now has to be weighed with the potential consequences of contracting the virus. It is really hard not to live in fear. I know I don't freely run into Walmart anymore and wander around. I get in and get out, and if at all possible I order it so I don't have to go. Yes, I want to see you, but is it really worth the risk? Chips and Salsa, Pizza buffet, Chicken Lo Mein, are they worth it? These are just a few of the questions we are all weighing these days. Of course, church and school are on the list as well. 

Throughout my life, money has always been at the top of my anxiety list. How much is this going to cost? Car problems and normal day to day budgeting, money seems to be a necessary evil in my life! I am sure many of us feel this way, especially in seasons when there just isn't enough. I remember a time about 5 years ago when money was especially tight, standing in my backyard, so my dog could run around, crying out to God trying not to worry but knowing that the checkbook was not going to cover the bills it needed to this time around. I remember specifically saying, "It's like I just need $100 to magically appear in the mail!" I remember going to bed that night quite anxious and exhausted from the weight of juggling it all. It didn't help that I was 8 months pregnant and the looming costs of bringing a child into the world were not helping! The next day I walked to the mailbox and there sat a check for exactly $100 from my mother. Oh, I lost it, the words I had said in fear and panic the night before were answered the next day. Then it sunk in that in order for a check to be mailed to me, it had to be sent before I prayed that prayer, a day or two before. When I asked my mother, she said I just felt prompted to send it to you!

Those gentle nudges and prompts from the Holy Spirit, they are such blessings in our lives. For us, at that moment, it was some freedom from financial burdens and the angst of becoming new parents. I think about all the times in my life when I have chosen to sit in my worry and anxiety rather than to cry out to God. There is so much more freedom and peace when I cry out to God than when I let it fill up inside of me! So today I am making a conscious effort to give my worries to God in prayer rather than let them weigh me down.