Dear Daughters,
A few weeks ago I wrote about the God Box – the act of physically casting our cares and worries on Jesus. The idea is to get a little box and some small pieces of paper and write the names of the people or things you worry about on each piece. Then one by one, place those worries in the God Box and leave them for Him to take care of. But…if you start worrying about something listed on one of those papers, take it out and tell God you don’t trust Him with that specific person or situation and you will worry about it again – thank you very much. This is Craig Groeschel’s very practical idea from his book Winning the War in Your Mind.
Well, one of my dear friends who tends to worry more than she would like, actually decided to get a box and fill it with her worries. I was so pleased to hear about it, but a few days later she texted some pictures lamenting that it had become a busy God box. She would throw a name in but would soon find herself worrying about the very things and people she had just put in:
What about this?
What about that?
But what happens when…
So the lid came off, the paper came out, and the worrying would start again. But, of course, that action in itself feels a bit silly because then it becomes blatantly obvious that our trust is waning. So, the next step is to put the paper back in the box and give it back to God – where it belongs.
Out of the God Box, into the God Box. Trust again.
Out of the Box, into the Box. Trust some more.
It can get to be rather exhausting putting it in and taking it out, but our Father is so patient with us as we learn to trust over and over.
We have absolutely no control over anyone but ourself, no control over any circumstance which comes our way, but we do have control over how we will respond to whatever happens in our life.
When Jesus walked the earth, He repeatedly reminded us that He cares for the sparrows, the lilies of the field, all the creatures of the world. If He cares for the grass of the field, which is here today and gone tomorrow, will He not care for you who is so much more important than the grass of the field or the birds of the air? So why not cast your cares on Him? Why not write down what keeps us awake at night, what consumes our thoughts with anxiety from the minute we wake up in the morning – and place it in the God Box?
We were not created to carry the heavy yoke the world places on us or that we place on ourselves. Only our Creator God is able to carry it all.
As Erma Bombeck says:
Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.
Sometimes it seems that our slips of paper in the God Box are turning yellow with age, but just when we think all is lost and God has forgotten us, the answer will come. And never a moment too soon – or too late. It may not be the answer we want, but it will inevitably be something greater than what we can imagine. Plus an added bonus – we will be able to live in peace.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever, AMEN.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Love, Mom
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