Fretting and a kitchen blender have a lot in common. With the push of a button the contents of a blender are whirled and swirled until they become a frothy mixture. In our lives, worry gnaws away at us until our lives become a churned jumble. But God doesn't want us to live "blender-ized" lives.
Fretting easily leads to worry; worry casts a big shadow over small problems — a shadow that should never cross our lives.
When the outlook is not good, we should not fret. We need a change of perspective to realize that God sees tomorrow more clearly than we see yesterday. The future is completely in His hands!
Don't fret! Cheer up! Neither the sun, nor the Son, has gone out of business. He is with us. A new day will dawn and the Lord will bring Himself to the center of our problems.
Remember, worry will only tie us in knots. Prayer is the only way to cut short our fretting — to cut those knots of worry and care and grant us God's peace instead.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:6-7
How can fretting lead to worry?
What does Jesus say about the consequences of worrying in Matthew 6:27-30?
Consider the things you worry about.
What happens to your worry when you change your perspective and realize that God holds your tomorrow in His hands?
Read Jeremiah 17:7-8.
What does it look like in your life to be rooted by your trust in the Lord? How can these roots support you when worry threatens to overwhelm you?
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. — Jeremiah 17:7-8
Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes." — Luke 12:22-23
Excerpted with permission from Footprints by Margaret Fishback Powers, copyright Margaret Fishback Powers.
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