Be Strong and Take Heart

Today’s Reading: Psalm 27-29; John 11:1-29

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14 NIV).

“The Lord is strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks for him in song (Psalm 28:7 NIV).

I’m sure I’ve written about this before, it’s a vice of mine. It seems like no matter how hard I try, I wake up the next morning and I’m worrying once again. Worrying is such an easy thing to do. There’s always something or someone that isn’t fully taken care of, and thus gets a full dose of worrying. I think a part of my worrying obsession comes from my desire to fix things. When I find something that I can’t immediately correct or manage, I worry about the outcome. These verses above remind me that God truly is the one in control. I’m not. All that He asks of me is that I “take heart” and trust in Him to provide. This often involved a lot of waiting, but that’s ok. I’m human, and I can’t see the outcome like He can. The only choice for me is how I live those intermediate times between when the worry first crops up and when it’s finally fulfilled. (Which could be a matter of hours, days, weeks or years). I can either dwell and stew in my worry and doubt, or I can wait on the Lord and rejoice in Him in song as I recall all the times He has already provided for me.
What about you? Do you have a tendency to worry? How do you overcome it?

Lord, thank you for taking my worries each and every day, and continuing to shower blessings of answered prayers upon my life.