Casting Our Cares
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5: 6-7
I haven’t always been this way, but about ten years ago, I started becoming a worst-case-scenario person. I had several bouts of tragedy, walked through grief, and honestly just became kind of afraid. I don’t know about you, but living in a constant state of fear that something bad is going to happen is not fun, and it’s definitely not the way God intended us to live.
I’m just at the second trimester of my first pregnancy, and I have to be honest. I have to battle fear all the time! Fear that something bad will happen, fear that I will not be a good mother, fear that my husband and I won’t be able to make it financially. When I let myself sit in my mind, I become a whirling dervish of fear and anxiety to the point that I can’t really even think straight.
Even yesterday, I had to get up in the morning and head out on a walk because my mind was just running and I needed to walk it out and pray. And as I was walking, I felt a gentle nudge in my spirit of God speaking to me, “Do not settle in the worst-case-scenario; instead, trust in My Goodness.” And oh my, that word spoke to me! I so often let my fear rule my life instead of my faith.
I love the way The Passion Translation writes 1 Peter 5:6-7: “Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.”
The idea of casting means we throw our worries far out. And what’s even more beautiful is that we throw these fears onto God. He is able to handle them, and asks us to do this because he tenderly cares for us. What a comfort.
So instead of letting fear rule today, I’m writing this verse on my hand, and praying it becomes one that is written on my heart. God’s love for you and me is so great, and we can trust his goodness to us, that in the midst of the storms of our lives (whether they are real and in our faces or just our fears taking up too much space in our hearts and heads) He is with us, He is for us, and He is faithful to the end.