Anxiousness

What a beautiful day in DC! Despite the late hours I kept last night, I managed to wake and go to church this AM. I was tempted to skip and work on schoolwork or sleep since I know I will be up late tonight and working on it. But, man, I am so glad I didn't. The mile walk to church was refreshing. The weather is crisp today, but by the time I had arrived, my overcoat and scarf had been peeled away and my sleeves were pushed up.

The message was taken from Genesis and focused on Abram. The subject matter was "alters" and my pastor mentioned four kinds that we can make for God: thanksgiving, epiphany, dream, and decision alters. The epiphany ones are those where God reveals something to us. Be careful what you ask God to reveal, because He may reveal something pretty big! Are you ready to take it on? The thanksgiving ones should be built so that we have a place to go back to and offer thanks. Modern thanksgiving alters may be pictures (scrapbooking, anyone?), trinkets from events, and similar items. Thanksgiving alters remind us of where we have been. Dream alters are where God gives us promises. To Abram he promised descendants and land. To us it may be anything: children, a job, a home, a life partner, etc. It's something He places in our hearts and tells us we will have if we trust him. The last one is the decision alter. Are we willing to give up what's most important to us? Are we willing to manage the major decisions we make? It's up to us to place our hopes, dreams, decisions, and promises into God's hands. He knows what's best and provides. All we have to do is trust and work with diligence and thanksgiving.

My anxiousness about school work was appeased when this familiar verse from Philippians 4 was read: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The challenge to us was to turn our worries into prayers. Take each anxious thought and turn into thanksgiving and petition it to God. It's a cool thought to think about people not walking around worried, but walking around prayerful. It also makes for a much lighter mental load.

So, here I go. I'm going to dive in and work on some homework. The sun is shining through my window for a couple more hours. And I am thankful.