More Than Conquerors
Anxiety is defined as: a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.
If I could summarize a mutual, underlying tone of emotion in most folks lately, it’s anxiety. I have seen it more often in my own personal walk, and even within the women in my close circle. We want to fix it all for the husband, the kiddo(s), our parent(s), our friends. In the recent year, I’m sure most experienced this on an even deeper level.
A year ago, we all felt it. An impending doom that would awaken our deepest anxieties and uncertainties. I refer to this as The Season of Covid. We all longed for a tangible handshake, a hug, and still today we imagine another’s beautiful smile behind their mask. We ponder the outcome of the economy. We’ve watched our nation burn and crumble. We’ve wept at the closing of churches across the nation. We’ve witnessed the news reports and watched as bodies by the hundreds were buried. We’ve waded through what is science and what is political. Within our own homes we adjusted and readjusted to accommodate caution for our loved ones, and as homeschooling became the mainstream across the nation, we watched our children learn to embrace a new normal.
There came a time I finally had to turn off the news, and I deleted all my news apps. My anxiety over all that Covid “COULD” entail was affecting my every mood, every move, and even my motivation. We have a child on immune suppressant therapies, and you can imagine the heart sink as we constantly heard, “….shelter in place, especially those immune compromised.” I had to turn to THE ONE Who already knew the outcome. The Lord said He’s the same yesterday, today, forever. My surroundings and circumstances were in a swirl of change, but He was and is a constant, steady companion. My trust roots had to dig deep and grow stronger and I had to hold fast to His unseen hand.
If anxiety is controlling your motivations, you’re well doing, your living, rescue your heart and mind with the Word of God! Memorize the precious Word and as events of life come your way, God will bring to mind that hidden Word and restore order in your hurried heart. Fill your day with encouraging podcasts or Bible preaching and teaching. I replaced my news app with the Moody Broadcasting Station app! Replace the cause of the anxiety with a positive. Cause and effect go both ways! And the most important thing I have embraced over the years…. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING. Pray over the dishes, the steaming pot, the laundry basket, pray while driving, resting, jogging, kneeling, standing. Just pray. Praying without ceasing, keeping your heart bowed towards God, will become a way of life and the Spirit will sweep in and carry you through the anxiety of this life.
In closing, Lamentations 3:23 says the Lord’s mercies are made new EVERY morning. As the sun rose every morning in 2020, as it rose upon another “what if”, I was gently reminded by God the Father that it was rising with NEW MERCIES. Enough mercies to carry me, you, this whole nation through 2021. And just a side note, it’s always morning somewhere. We have access to a continuous flow of mercy! Praise the Lord.
Psalm 121:8 — The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
No matter where we are in our ebb and flow, God is on the other side of this, and we can trust Him with our incoming and outgoing tides.
