So Anxious.
What happens when your gift from God is the very thing that makes you feel anxious?
Hey y'all. It's your girl Julie, back with another segment of "Becoming Salty and Lit."
It's been a while, and honestly, I had considered giving up on the blog. You see, I knew this was something from God, yet I was allowing this gift to cause me stress, bringing me to my first question: What happens when a gift from God is the very thing that makes you feel anxious? Before we begin, let's begin with prayer.
Abba, You are so good, and thank You for being our Friend. Thank you for being a Giver of things. Help me and those reading to not put the gifts You've given me/us over You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Paul, an apostle in the Bible, states, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7) The Word tells us to be anxious for NOTHING, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. In that one statement, I see many things. 1) We are called to not be anxious about anything, meaning we shouldn’t allow the things of this world to cause us anxiety, and 2) We are invited to make our requests known to God. While these items may sound simple in essence, how can we actually do that? For me, I thought I had to have an extensive list of things, where I had to go through many leaps and hurdles, to prevent me from feeling anxious. While the author gives me an exhaustive list, that’s what it is, straight to the point. He states, “in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving” will aid in countering our anxiety.
What I noticed is that when I take the attention off of God and place it on myself and my circumstances, I end up anxious. When we pray, though we are conversing with God, we can take the attention away from God by shifting the focus on ourselves. Paul, the writer of Philippians, states that we must pray, supplicate, and give thanks. When we pray, we are having a conversation with God, meaning it is a two-way street in that there is interaction coming from both people (us and God). When we supplicate, we are recognizing our dependency on the Lord by acknowledging that it is only by Him that things are possible and asking humbly for His help. God desires to know our requests, and these are moments in which we can share those with Him. Lastly, we are told to give thanks. When we pray, we can end up in a place of shifting our focus to what we don’t have and turning it into a sad party. However, when we give thanks, we put the attention back on God and acknowledge what He has done for us and who He is. Only in those moments can we truly experience His peace.
His peace that surpasses all understanding? I can’t even describe it because it surpasses all understanding. Something that I do know, however, is that this peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, meaning that despite whatever thing may come at you, your heart and mind will be protected. It’s important to note that this only comes through Christ Jesus. Those who do not have Jesus in their lives cannot experience this peace. When we receive the Lord, we experience peace. If not, something might be up.
For me, when I felt anxious about the blog, I spent time in His presence crying, but I never made a proper request to Him or shifted the focus onto Him. I internally asked Him to just cut off the blog, so I can experience His peace. However, even with that request, the “peace” I thought I felt was one that satisfied my current feelings; it didn’t satisfy my desire to be in His peace. His peace comes when I’m under His wing, doing what He’s called me to do. I desire to share truth using Scripture to women. However, I found myself struggling to do so. I wasn’t trusting God enough with the blog, and the anxiety brought me into a state of just wanting to end things. When we don’t trust God with our dreams/gifts, we end up feeling anxious. So my friend, what is causing you anxiety? What is causing you to be unable to experience His peace? What would it look like to bring those things to Him? He desires to take your load and give you His.
I desired a perfect blog that would be pleasing to God, yet I lost sight of the fact that this was a gift from Him. He invited me to join with Him as a co-laborer in this work, but as His daughter first. Friends reminded me that I shouldn’t be so stressed about a gift, yet in the moment, I strived for perfection over peace, and that broke me. But the beautiful thing is, God doesn’t want my perfection; instead He wants my obedience, and I missed out on that.
Despite that, there’s a beautiful thing called Grace that reminds me that even though I mess up badly, Abba is still loving enough to walk alongside me on the path that’s straight. Isn't that beautiful? My encouragement to you is this: don't let a Gift prevent you from experiencing His peace. As a matter of fact, don't let anything prevent you from experiencing His peace. His peace surpasses ALL understanding, and we get to partake in it if we allow ourselves to. And I don't know about you, but I'm about to DROWN in it.
With that being said, my invitation is to accept the peace that He offers when we talk to Him. He commands us to talk to Him. The verse says, “Let your requests be made known to God,” giving us the permission to say all of the things in our hearts to God. But the thing is that this is still a choice. You can choose not to voice those things to God, and you may not experience His peace. That’s a sad thing to know that you have the opportunity to have peace, - one that surpasses all understanding - yet you can decide not to accept it. For those who don’t know the God who offers peace, I gotta say that He’s great. In fact, He loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die for you, and it doesn't end there. His Son rose from the dead, conquering death, so you may be able to experience life with Him. What’s the catch? There is none. All you have to do is accept His Son Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life and believe that God raised Him from the dead then you will be saved.
Before I end, I want to write a gentle reminder of what “salty and lit” means for me. It means that we express ourselves as the salt and light of the world, bringing flavor wherever we go and shining the light that God has placed in each and every one of us. As His children, we are called to shine our light, and it is imperative that we do so because we have the opportunity to let others know about the Christ in us and draw them to a place of their wanting to experience Christ. While “salty and lit'' is a term for everyone, "Becoming Salty and Lit" is a Scripture-focused blog for women to embrace their God-given identity and equip them on how to engage in the Scripture.
Let's pray.
Abba, You are Holy and Righteous. I thank You for reminding us of the peace that comes from you. Would we accept that peace and be anxious for nothing and bring those requests to you. Would you be glorified in our lives.In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Per usual, I want to remind you that you are loved, salty, and lit. But this time, I won't say bye... I'll say, "Talk to you soon!" ❤
