There are those nights. We all have them. The ones where we cannot sleep. The ones where we toss and turn and worry and wonder.
I had one recently where I anxiously flipped from one side to the other trying to determine what would happen.
When I was a little girl, it was concern for my grandmother. I didn’t want her to die. She meant so much to me, and I couldn’t imagine life without her. When I told her my concern, she told me when that happened during the night, get up and pray. Read the Bible. Use the time for something good. Nothing good ever comes from worry.
At that time in my life, I was young. Tragedy had not touched my world in a personal way.
The years of my life have proven differently, and now I know what tragedy is. I know the pain of loss, and like most people, I don’t want tragedy anywhere near me; but, it is something we cannot avoid.
Having a relationship with God, I also know comfort, provision, compassion, and the unconditional love of the Father.
When those nights hit, I do what I know to do. I pull out my Bible and let the Lord speak to me through His Word.
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19.
For most of us, we seek provision in our jobs, our bank accounts, our checkbooks. We seek compassion from those around us. We look for comfort in immediate fixes. And when the bottom falls out of our lives, we tend to look up, demanding God to fix it. Fear of the unknown (which in actuality is the very next second of our lives, the very next breath) influences everyone. The reality of life is, we do not want to relinquish the control of our next breath to God.
God wants us to trust Him for the unknown, for the next step, for the next breath. He is not an observer but an active participant in our lives when we allow Him to be.
My daddy and I used to trail ride quite a bit. One Saturday morning, he was riding one of our young horses and she spooked. He hit the ground pretty hard, and she ran. I remember standing over my dad not knowing what I should do. Words came to my mind and I helped him to start breathing again. My dad later asked me how as an 8-year-old I knew what to do. Perplexed I answered him, “Because you told me what to do!”
He shook his head because he hadn’t spoken a word to me.
Whatever you are facing today, God can handle it. Allow Him to instruct you as to what you need to do.
