Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7 CSB
Worry Into Prayer
I love this Scripture. I absolutely love it. The beauty of these words to keep us in His Truth.
We have all been faced with news that is shocking and frightening. Difficult and unforeseen circumstances that bring fear knocking on our door. Our minds race with all the “what ifs.” We know we should not fear and we know we should not worry, but in those moments it just seems impossible. We are human after all.
The ability to overcome worry, move beyond our fears, and find peace is not found in ourselves, it is found in the presence of God with us.
He is near. He is at hand. He is with us.
I have learned a lot from my husband over the years, starting very early on in our marriage. I have watched him endure things I could have never imagined, with such grace and courage. When you witness something like that, when you see someone have such peace in the face of adversity, you know that it can only be the peace of God.
A trip to the doctor walked us right into the scary unknown. We had no choice but to go through it, but there was peace in knowing we didn’t have to face it alone. So instead of going home and completely falling apart, which in that moment crossed my mind, we went home and prayed. We completely turned to Him in prayer. Every day. Every night. We read Scripture like these verses in Philippians.
We did our best to turn our worry into prayer.
We prayed with confidence not because we understood, but because we knew we had to trust His reasons and His timing. We knew we had a battle to overcome, but we knew He would help us overcome it. We knew only God could provide the peace we longed for. And He sure did.
God showed up in amazing ways. He meets us right in the middle of our worst of circumstances. He brought comfort and peace right into that chaos. We experienced the peace and presence of God in ways we didn’t even know were possible. There were moments when that peace that surpasses all understanding was so tangible we knew it was only God.
I don’t want to make it sound like this was easy. It was far from it.
When I let worries and fears of the unknown get the better of me, I had my own moments of falling apart. Having faith and trusting God doesn’t magically take away all the worries and make things easy. It takes work, constant work, to give the worry and anxiety to Him and know He will see you through. Each time fear creeps up, you have to hand it right over. With eyes fixed on Him, His peace will guard your mind and guard your heart.
Live and pray with confidence because you can be certain He is near. He will cover your fear with His love and faithfulness. He will calm your anxious heart.
We trust you, Jesus.
Do you struggle with worry? What worry can you hand over to God today and find peace?
Leave a Comment