Day 106: Helping Hand (April 16)

For several days, I have seen a hand reaching down to me.  I would be running or doing my daily chores or work and I would see a very near hand reaching toward me.  I knew it was Abba.  Every time I saw it, I would reach my hand up to grab hands, but nothing really happened.  Then I ran across this verse and like lightening, I knew what God had been trying to say to me……

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.  1 Peter 1:7

The moment I read those words, I felt an exchange happen between God and me.  I spoke out loud, “God, I give You all of my anxiety.”  I felt a literal weight lift off me, and I had a release I had been waiting to have happen for weeks.

We’ve been walking through some very daunting situations in several different areas of our life, and it was feeling so overwhelming that I struggled to breathe deep steady breaths like normal.  I had been looking to God for answers and council, and although He was guiding my every step and I was fully aware of that, I still felt a heaviness on me.  When it lifted, it was so powerful.

Even if you are walking near God and listening to His voice and following His direction, there are times when you simply need Him to lift a burden off you.  All of life can sometimes begin to look like heaviness.  Do you know what I mean?  Have you every experienced times when it seems like one thing after another is a challenge and you don’t know why it’s happening and a gentle and hopeful response is getting harder and harder to come by?  Please tell me I’m not alone with this.

We can never “mature” so much that we stop realizing our lifelong need for Abba.  Do you have burdens that are weighing you down today?  Then make an exchange, give Him your anxieties and He will give you His peace.  All because He cares for you.

God, today I come to You so I can exchange my anxiety for Your peace.  Lord, You know my heart, here are my worries and concerns (list your concerns here).  I know You know what I need before I even ask, so I will relax into trusting that process today.  I honor Your sovereignty in my life right now by releasing all my fears, frustrations, worries, disappointments, and misunderstandings to You in one exhaled breath.  In my next inhale I will breathe in Your peace.  Thank You.  I adore You, in Jesus name amen.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Psalm 46:1

All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:25-27