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Dear Friends, Ever been unable to turn your mind off? The what ifs, the anxieties, the worry? It’s like a record left spinning long after the party’s over. It’s a merry-go-round that doesn’t seem to slow for long enough to step off. Anxiety can be truly disruptive. Let’s talk about it. But first, here are some lyrics I’m singing to Jesus today: You never sleep nor slumber Sometimes, when the day is over and the cacophony of work and schedules and kids quiet down, the hum of anxiety can amplify. What was a background presence becomes a siren that can no longer be ignored, and certainly not slept through. Night can be the worst. But there’s an attribute of God that convinces me He’s just what we need in these moments. Isaiah 40 tells us “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, never faints nor is weary”. Psalm 121 tells us, “He will never slumber nor sleep”. Now, telling someone who is anxious not to be anxious is probably one of the least helpful things you can do. So I won’t. But what I will say is this: When you find yourself awake, staring into the dark, feeling worry swell in your mind, you are not alone: He is awake with you in the night. Yes, He does lift the weight. Sometimes He does it miraculously in a moment, it’s gone, and you’re sleeping like a baby. Sometimes it’s a process and takes time. But even right in this moment, before anything improves, He is with you. The God who thinks more thoughts of you than there are grains of sand on the earth (Psalm 139:18) is awake with you, present with you. He’s a generous Father who loves when we come to Him. He’s a gentle shepherd who won’t abandon His sheep. He’s a night watchman over your life, your future, your family, who won’t close His eyes for a moment. Take comfort. –Anna |
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Hi Friends, We pretend to be experts, you and I. We pretend to be vinedressers. We offer to Him what we are sure is treasure, and we sweep what looks to be rubbish under the rug. We take up the pruning sheers. We are a mess, and we know it. So we cut and we slice and we prune till we can stand back and feel pride, as though we have established some sense of order. But maybe we have not established order. Maybe we have merely cut off all that was growing. There’s one vinedresser, and He’s our...
Hi Friends, Have you ever noticed how quickly we decide what matters? Who’s successful. Who’s influential. Whose life is “making an impact.” We see the titles, the platform… and without even realizing it, we start assigning value. But God does something completely different. He takes what seems valuable in the eyes of man and turns it on its head. His ways are so very different than ours. Turns out, He put the most valuable thing of all completely out of sight. It doesn’t matter if you are...
Hi Friends, Last night I stepped out onto the back deck. To be honest, I was escaping the thunderous noise (oh the noise!) of three boys who felt bedtime looming and were attempting to squeeze just a few more minutes of play out the day. I stepped out into what has been one of the first warm evenings of the year, heard the birds singing in the forest beyond our yard, and I had what felt like an involuntary reaction. It felt like when the doctor hits your knee just right and you get surprised...