Calm our Anxious Hearts

One following the thread of recent conversations with assorted friends this week will hear the anxiety, hurry, fear, disorganization, and even worry evident in our collective voices in person or through writing. We ARE busy these days.....and there is no potion or cream that will make the demands of each day simply vanish away like fine lines or wrinkles are rumored to do.

Let us remember in the midst of a dirty house, unwrapped Christmas gifts, unaddressed Christmas cards, and piece-meal living that:
God is bigger than our fears.

God beckons us to draw near with a heart of a trusting child....one who believes it when God says "Do not fear"....that God will never leave us alone, not even when we cannot seem to follow through on everything we attempt with the best of intentions.

God in the Spirit has a way of soothing our hearts with a gentle breath....with a reassuring stroke that is only discernible by a sense we can't identify, but we can know anyway. Let it soak into your heart right now, that God-Presence.

God can calm our anxious hearts.....and we so need that calming.

So when we face this week's hurdles ahead for many in our midst: surgery, pregnancies, child care, parent care, home decisions, marriage realities, relationship challenges, financial struggles, and health questions, we are wise to remember that we are not desperate people. We are normal people! We just may not be operating in the proper gear for where we need to tread. We need to shift gears into spiritual 4-wheel drive and get some traction that will help us traverse this road of Life. We cannot get through life coasting downhill, because sooner or later, we have to climb back uphill again. That's the rhythm of it.

And having done it once, we take heart that we can do it again....with God's help.

The first step is, do not be afraid. Fear prepares us to do two things: to run or to fight. God designed it that way! But drawing near to God requires neither fight nor flight. Let the fear go.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Let the fear go. And then invite the Presence of God to fill that space where fear habitually resided. Where there is a vacuum, something will move in to fill it. Let the Peace of God descend into our lives.

Come, Lord Jesus.