My friend, Gail, sent me an entry from a blog she reads. It hit the mark because I’m a natural and enthusiastic worrier. However, I recently realized that the upside of my personality is that I’m a good and enthusiastic trouble shooter……until stress hits then my default is worry. “What If” have been two of my most thought through words since a child. In fact, as a confession I will now admit that the first real child’s book with a message that I bought for my own children was, “Sometimes God, I Wonder ‘What IF.'” This book was one of many on a series of psalms for children. Really? This had to be the first one out of all the psalms that i would choose?
I am a visual person so I found this adorable guy to help me remember an important truth about worry. I hope it helps you and me. I am not quoting all of this person’s blog entry but if you are interested the URL to article is listed below so that you can read it in its entirety and do it justice.
God gives us grace for today, grace for what’s right in front of us. Today is Monday. And today God has given us the supply of grace we need for navigating Monday, But today, Monday, God hasn’t given us the grace to handle Tuesday or our imaginations of Tuesday.
Stop for a second. Where has your imagination been all day? What have you been imagining about tomorrow, next week, and next year? Those imaginations have made you heavy because God doesn’t give you grace for your imagination. He doesn’t work that way. He works this way:
Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day (Exodus 16:4).
God’s grace is like manna. God gives us “a day’s portion every day.” This is why Jesus taught us to pray for our “daily” bread, not “next week’s” bread.
We need to quit being chipmunks. We don’t need to try and stuff our cheeks with today’s manna, anxiously storing up fuel for the nasty winter we imagine around the corner. God doesn’t give us grace for our imaginations, he doesn’t give us grace for our chipmunk approach to life. (Emphasis mine.)
But, hear the good news: today God has given you today’s portion of grace. You can quit wasting Monday with all your imagining and cheek stuffing. If you’ve trusted Christ, you have a Sovereign Father who sits on a big throne in heaven, exercising detailed oversight over both your Monday and your Tuesday so that you can devote your full attention to what he has called you to do today. As I have grown older, however, I have come to realize two things. First, God has not promised to give us the grace to face all of the desperate situations that we might imagine finding ourselves in. He has promised to sustain us only in the ones that he actually brings us into. He therefore doesn’t promise that we will imagine how we could go through the fire for his sake, but he does promise that if he leads us through the fire, he will give us sufficient grace at that time. Like Manna, grace is not something that can be stored up for later use; each day receives its own supply.
Blog: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc
URL to article: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2009/12/21/grace-sufficient-for-today/
Dona, that was right on! That picture is sooo perfect. I am going to keep that image in my mind – the chipmunk stuffing his mouth of “what if’s.” It might be exhausting spitting out the “what if’s” we keep stuffing in our mouths, but we will all feel and function better if we do. Sending prayers and loving thoughts. Julie