Living the Dream: Be Anxious for Nothing.....

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of anxiety, to say the least.

Deciding and moving, literally in three weeks.

Moving Gina to college.

Finding a school for the boys.

Packing/Unpacking, cleaning, moving, SWEATING EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR THREE WEEKS.

Last Wednesday, I decided I wasn't going to do another thing that required sweat on my part for the rest of the month of August. I seriously have NEVER SWEAT so much in my life as I have the last few weeks. And I'm not a person that looks gloriously glowing when I sweat, I look like I've been through the wringer and it drips off my nose.

Not one inch of pretty anywhere in sight.

But now that I'm somewhat organized (heavy on the somewhat) and moved in .....HOLY MOLY I'm back in Shawnee!

I can leave my house and be at sonic in 4 minutes.

4 minutes, people.

I can buy food at an ALDI (WHICH I ADORE) and be back at my house in under 10 minutes. Now that may be stretching it, because as is turns out, everyone in Shawnee ALSO loves Aldi and usually is in there while I am in there, so it's always a full out - full aisle of people every aisle type experience. And even though they are overwhelmingly busy, there are two people that work there. TWO. So what should take 4 minutes of running in and running home can eek into a 20-25 minute standing -in - line experience.

ANXIETY. STRESS.

Now, if you think I'm serious, I'm not. But I am super serious about the topic we have been unpacking a church for the last few weeks.

Lacey and Tyler recently got new ink that is pretty much their family mantra.

"There is purpose in the pain"

We've been talking about ANXIETY at church, and I get bombarded, pretty much on the daily for prayer. I need prayer for this, for that, for the other. People know I like to pray and I'm a heavy duty prayer warrior, so I get a bunch of requests during the day. And I honor and adore them. Keep them coming.

However.....it's easy to get in a spin cycle (if you will) of worry and anxiety. Hallie has been in one for over a week. I don't think there is anything more stressful for me than to have a kid in a spin cycle. Our parental instinct is to step in and fix, but then you realize they are dang near 21 and IN THE ARMY and can and should figure out stuff for themselves. So you listen, and you pray, and you listen and you pray and you listen and you pray. And pray that they pray as well and listen to hear that holy spirit prompting them.

Our pastor has been through some stuff recently, and he was so raw and genuine at church this weekend, it moved me. (as always) He is in counseling for anxiety. And he is preaching on anxiety. DO you think that comes from a more personal, more intimate place for him? It's right where he is living, daily. We think of our pastors as these men of God that can't fall down or feel anxious or worry. He is standing in front of literally thousands of people, telling them, 'Yeah, I'm anxious, and the only way through it is through God".

I hear some of you scoffing. Yeah, God got me through it all right. He TOOK EVERYTHING AWAY... MY LIFE IS RUINED..... MY KID IS GONE .... I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN SO MUCH PAIN..... MY HEALTH IS FAILING...... He hears ALL those things.

Can he change the path of some of these things? Yes, I believe He has the power to do it. Will he change the path of some of these things? Yes I believe He can, but it's in HIS TIME.

Pastor Craig realized about third sermon in that he would have never been vulnerable and preached on a sermon about ANXIETY unless He himself had to walk that struggle himself. He said yesterday, more people have reached out to him and told him what a difference this series is making for them, than he has heard from in years.

You Have To Walk Through the Pain, to get to the other side. You can't short cut it, you can't stop it, you can't fast foward it. YOU HAVE to walk through all of it.

Laynie taught us that full well. When we were in the trenches, we didn't see the other side, we only saw the pain and the struggle and the hurting. BUT WE CHOSE to change our perspective on that and SEE and LIVE the Joy, the WONDER, the Grace that we were given in those special, anointed thirty months of God's mercy.

We could have wasted so much of that precious time doubting God and asking WHY GOD?, but instead we embraced what was given and lived it....FULL OUT.

We had to live in the verse "BE anxious for NOTHING, BUT IN EVERY SITUATION (every single one of them, guys), by prayer (BY PRAYER), bring it all to God". And HE will hear them.

Now does he Johnny on the spot answer them? And give you EVERY dang thing you ask for?

Deaton is a demander. He is 4 years old and he thinks that if he is awake, he needs to be eating a "SNACK". He would carry something in his hands 24/7 if he could find someone willing to keep handing him that snack. Now as his grandma, I believe my duty on earth is to fulfill his every wish and need. But I also know that, as a pretty avid snacker myself, that if he eats EVERYTHING he is demanding to have, that 1) he's going to weigh 300 pounds as a 1st grader, and/or 2) he will be sick as a mule and I will have to most likely clean up after him. SO, NO.... I hear his requests, and I decide, as HIS LOVING GRANDMA, what he can eat and can't eat.

This is such a silly example of what I'm trying to say, but no. It's not. It's that easy. GOD KNOWS YOU. HE KNOWS YOUR FUTURE. He can hear your thoughts. He knows what you need before you even voice them. Sometimes, I just pray and say "You know, God. You know" and He does.

Friends. Why do we torture ourselves with anxious thoughts? Are you doing the best you can do with your life? Are you living and tithing and loving your family? Are you doing good works for friends and loved ones and trying with all your heart to do the right thing? Then you shouldn't be anxious. YES, the enemy wants you tired and overwhelmed and frightened and sad and down. BECAUSE THEN YOU CAN"T DO ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS GOD CREATED YOU TO DO.

God will rescue you, He will send an army to find you.