How’d you sleep last night?   Tossing and turning perhaps?   Watching that clock move ahead at an agonizingly slow pace?  Was it pain, discomfort, worry or just plain fretting?   If you were blessed with hours of peaceful quiet rest, perhaps you can skip this one today . . . but I’ll take a guess that I’m not the only one who finds some nights very long indeed.

Anxiety frequently journeys along with us.   Sometimes we worry about a specific concern. Sometimes we just feel apprehensive or fretful.  Sometimes our spirits sink into the pits. When we feel anxious, there is an underlying sense of fear.    We don’t feel in control.   Ah, there’s the rub – we’re never really the ones “in control” of our lives.

We’ve heard the message repeatedly through the years: “Trust in the Lord with all Thy heart, lean not unto thine own understanding.”  But in our human weakness, the fear and anxiety seep back in.  Our focus wanders away from our Savior and back to within ourselves.  Time and again we need to return to our Lord with a trusting heart.  It sounds so easy, but sometimes it’s so hard.  Oh, if only I could do it just once and for all!  But it doesn’t work that way.  As the old gospel hymn says, “I need Thee every hour,

“I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.”
Lyrics by Annie S. Hawks

God is ready to calm our fears, if only we turn to him and ask.  He loves us, even when we’re filled with fear and anxiety.  He loves us in the daylight and in the long hours of darkest night.  God promises you will never be alone.  God loves you today, tonight, and always. God loves you UNCONDITIONALLY.

Judy

Adapted from Judy’s post in August 2016