Do not forget, O my soul

Do not forget O, my soul, all of his wonderful benefits. Do not forget all He has done for you. He has taken you from the ashes and has seated you with princes. While you were an enemy of God, he said yes to you and said it is worth it, I will lay down my life for you. Do not think what you do, or what you have done, or even the attitudes of your heart can change his mind. You cannot change his feelings and thoughts towards you. It is finished. His mercy surrounds you. At all times. Goodness and mercy abound around you. Though you may not feel it at times, He has crowned you with loving kindness, and tender mercies. Remember, remember what He has done for you. How can this not cause utter praise? He has washed you. He has taken brokenness and made it into His treasure. I cannot even grasp or put this into words. Remember, O my soul, what He has done. Remember who he is. Even when your problems seem so big, or even when you feel so incomplete, so "unwhole", so broken, remember His mercy towards you. Remember what is already accomplishes through that cross. His mercy that surrounds you at all times. He has made you clean. Jesus. Remember how real He is. How what He did really happened, and is really true. It's not just an idea. remember the reality of where you were without Him. Remember the reality of His love, and what His love compelled Him to do. Remember His tender compassion. It so cannot be earned. Let your heart sit in that. Let it expand in His grace. Set your heart before Him and watch as these little life cares seem to fade, and His "bigness" His awesomeness takes over you. It puts things into perspective. It reminds you what you're living for. It reminds you who you are in Him. My heart finds it's home before His throne. How secure, how safe. How good He is towards us to offer that. To let our hearts find their home in Him. How good, tender, merciful and gentle. O, that my heart would forever remember His goodness towards me and what He's done. Words cannot earn it, good acts and attitudes cannot earn it. God is so good, do not forget. Look to your Maker. The next time the world spits something at you. Lord, teach me more of what you have done. Let my soul boast in you continually. Let it soak in your goodness. Let the walls of pride, inadequacy, striving to earn it come crumbling down. Give my heart and mind understanding. Jesus, is worthy of all of my praise. Always. He is enough. I am enough in Him because He says so. Jesus, I want my life to praise you and soak in your freedom. I LOVE YOU! And I know I've only scratched the surface of loving you and being loved by you. (Well in my mind). Thank you God. Continue to perfect my understanding by your grace. Perfect my praise by your mercy. Let me soak it AALLLL in. Show me how you've done it all.

Why worry...

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?...So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat? or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34.

It seems so simple: do not worry, everything is going to be okay. It's so true, I mean here we are, living in America, we've never REALLY had to worry about food, housing, or where our next meal is coming from. We don't really face too much eminent danger, so why do I worry? Why is it so hard to not be afraid of not knowing what the future holds? What is it that we're really afraid of?

This all came to my attention today as I was debating over my decision for my plans tonight. This happens often as decision making is often a bigger ordeal than it needs to be. I couldn't decide, and this often causes anxiety. And it's annoying. So I decided to pray, not really knowing what I was praying for. I tried my best to be anxious for nothing. Even though I know God will be with me in both circumstances, I often have trouble deciding what I want to do, what's the best decision etc. And even though it seems like it wouldn't be a big deal, idk maybe I think too far into things. :) Anyways, after that my mind jumps to a different "problem". Should I go on a trip during winter break? After going into all the details of all the different problems that could come of that or all the different possibilities and getting a bit anxious. What would happen if... or if I do this then... What if I am not wise and choose something bad...?

The song "It's all gonna be ok" by Jake Hamilton came on in my head. "If your eye is on the sparrow, then your heart is on me... It's all gonna be okay." Immediately I went to Matthew 6:25 (even though this isn't the verse that talks about sparrows, it always reminds me of it). THe thing that stuck out to me was the end where it talks about why worry about tomorrow? Really, He's going to be with us. I don't even need to be thinking or worrying about all the possible problems that could potentially arise in the future. Even during the day. Why worry? The fact that His eye is on the sparrow. He loves me more and I am more valuable to Him than whether or not I choose one thing or another. Whether or not I "fail" at anticipating or planning the right thing. I'm definitely still trying to understand this and let it lay hold of my heart, but the more I think about it, the more I trust Him. He doesn't want me to worry. I tried this today and it really was so much better! Way stinking more enjoyable when we don't get so caught up! Lord, let this verse rest deep inside of me :)

I mean, the bird is kinda cute, but really? :)