My friend from Houston, TX, Rachel Connor, posted this yesterday on her Facebook page. I thought you, my dear readers, might be as blessed as I was for these encouraging words…

After a week of mostly being home bound, I woke up this morning thinking I was in a bad Sci-Fi movie where bedlam is in abundance and there are no good choices to make to stay alive. Yep, after a week I finally gave in to worry. I’m worried about my daughters and if they’re staying 6 ft away from the next person and washing their hands with frequency. I’m worried about my church family, healthcare practitioners, retail workers, hourly workers, first responders, the elderly, my friends who are small business owners, parents who are juggling schedules because they have children to care for who are out of school. I worry about my own work and how that has changed in a week’s time. The skills that I’ve spent a life time developing are not that relevant right now. Televangelists never impressed me that much, now we’re all their first cousins as on-line evangelists, and blogsters. The worries go on and on.

It doesn’t take long though, once I quiet myself and pray for the gift of the presence of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that I realized I have a choice here to worry or to pray. I ask myself if I can do both? (I actually laughed out loud on that one) Right now, I want to do both. I can choose to do both and I believe that Jesus walks with me either way. But this morning I choose to snap out of it and read Philippians 4: 6-7 from The Message Bible (MsgB).

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”

After just sitting with this passage, a song comes to me from years ago…”I feel better, so much better when I laid my burdens down.” And you know what, just sitting with the Triune God in the quiet of the morning hours, I do feel better. The troubles of the world are not gone but the presence and comfort of the Holy Spirit is more than enough. He has me, and if you’re reading this, He has you and your worries too. I feel better, so much better. The Father has shared His heart’s desire with me that helps me move away from worry.

I am not alone.

I am cared for.

Jesus is at my center.

I invite you to a time of quiet. Settle into a comfortable place and space away from distractions and give over your worries. I pray that you feel His presence near and hear His gentle voice.

Thank you, Rachel, for sharing your story. May others read this and be encouraged as well.  May God, our loving Father; Jesus, our compassionate brother; and the Holy Spirit, our comforter, become our Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Keep Safe – Keep Sane – Keep in Christ.  Marty Boller