If you're anything like me, all the hustle and bustle wears on you after a while. It follows me everywhere and has my brain constantly working. Even in my sleep my brain is processing, planning, sorting. It's exhausting! I find myself restless, irritated, and totally overwhelmed. No matter what I do, I can't keep everything going. I can't keep everyone happy. More than anything, I don't feel like I'm completely satisfying my calling in life. This causes a tremendous amount of stress and worry for me. Before I know it, I'm wound so tightly and stretched so thin, that the smallest pin prick of a negative encounter causes me to snap and completely lose it. Girls, that is no good.
God does not intend for us to live in a restless, exhausted, anxiety-ridden state. In fact, He wants us to do the opposite. 1 Peter 5:7 says that we should "Cast all [our] anxiety on Him because He cares for [us]." God doesn't expect us to carry our worries. He longs for us to throw them onto Him. But shifting the burden from us to Him takes an attitude adjustment. It means a paradigm shift too.
1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." See, before we can turn over our cares, our worries, our anxieties to the Lord, we have to humble ourselves. We must acknowledge that we are not in control, but that Almighty God is. We cannot do this on our own. And He doesn't want us to! Once we acknowledge and accept that God is in control, and we aren't, then letting go of those things we hold so tightly becomes possible.
So, what do you think? Where are you? Do you need to shift your thinking and allow God His rightful spot in the driver's seat? It might take some time to rework your thinking, but I guarantee this: it's worth it.
The Lord offers us peace in the midst of chaos. Are you going to accept?
The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.
Psalm 29:11
