Spirit & Trust

When the first day of autumn appears on the calendar, it always conjures visions of my favorite season. I have great expectations.

I look forward to cool, crisp air, beautiful fall leaf color changes, homemade pumpkin bread, pretty sweaters and scarves, snuggly blankets, and plenty of college football.

Expectations run high as the new season brings a fresh start and a chance to reset. There’s renewed energy and excitement, and our senses are filled with fall fragrances and scented candles. Soon, we smell the aroma of Thanksgiving turkey and dressing baking in the oven.

It’s nice to have lovely things to anticipate. It encourages me and elevates my hopes and dreams.

Prayer is like that. We eagerly seek what God has ahead. We wait to hear a word from Him. Scripture reminds us to pray expectantly that God will work in our lives and situations.

God is our hope. His steadfast lovingkindness is new every morning, not just seasonally. I’ve learned I can rely on Him in my circumstances. Nothing is too complicated for Him to accomplish, so I must dream big. I need to expect the Lord to do great things. He has done so before, and He will again; I can count on it.

Believe that God will work in your life—a new job, home, relationship, finances, or a health treatment plan. Pray with anticipation that He will respond. God’s favor and blessing are just around the corner because He’s already at work.

We love to watch the History Channel. I could have enjoyed American history so much more if my teacher had told us stories instead of facts.

Once, we watched a biography of Daniel Boone. I didn’t know much about him, but I learned he was passionate about the wilderness and finding a path through the mountains to the West. How do you forge a trail through old-growth forest? How do you figure out which way to go to get over the mountains? I’m sure he looked for a straight path because that would have been the easiest.

We, too, look for straight paths. Sometimes we think we can do it alone. What usually happens is that the path is not straight or easy.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. In this beloved verse, God tells us to trust Him, not to rely on ourselves, and to submit to Him. Then He will make our path straight. Sounds easy, but without practice, it is not so easy. When we are in the middle of something, many times our first thought is not to turn to God but to figure the way out on our own.

Daniel Boone was a Christian. In 1816, he wrote, “The religion I have is to love and fear God, believe in Jesus Christ, do all the good to my neighbor and myself that I can, do as little harm as I can help, and trust God’s mercy for the rest.”

I‘m sure Daniel Boone called on God in those scary times in the mountains as he led a group of people to an unknown destination. Unlike Daniel Boone, we know our destination. We have a God who leads and directs us if we ask.

Rest assured that your path will be straight if you ask God to be your guide.

I once wrote a magazine article about a friend and her recent project. She and her patriotic organization were working in a local cemetery cleaning up history—literally. They toured a local cemetery and refurbished grave markers to make them more legible. While there, I browsed among the gravestones.

One stone caught my eye. Since the lettering was visible, I realized it marked the grave of a man who had lived during the nineteenth century. From the dates, I could see he lived to about seventy.

However, another grave was more poignant. It was for an infant–a little boy who lived just one day. Two local persons, probably both with families who grieved their deaths. Now, they were just names carved in stone with no one to mourn them.

We all have memories of deceased loved ones—perhaps even of ancestors we never knew. At one time, they were real persons who left memories to someone. Now, they’re just names carved on a grave marker, forgotten by many.

Yet not with God. Since His memory is perfect and complete, He can’t forget His saints. The psalmist put it well when he called those memories precious, valued, costly, and treasured to God. The Lord remembers all His saints and knows them personally. What else could we expect from a God with a perfect memory? 

Find ways to keep the memories of your loved ones alive.

The Lord gently guided me to research the definition of anxiety when my grandson had tornadoes touch down in the area where he is a fireman/EMT. I prayed for my grandson, but it wasn’t long before the what-ifs played havoc with my mind. All night, I tossed and turned. When morning came, I had nothing to show for my hours of agitation except sleepy eyes.

Later, my research showed how focusing on what could happen can become self-inflicted torment.

Charles W. Mayo said, “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system, and profoundly affects health. I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many have died from doubt.” 

If I keep taking my prayers out of God’s hands by thinking about all the bad things that could happen, my health will be affected adversely. I do not want corrosive darkness enveloping me.

Ben Franklin spoke about this when he said, “Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”  

Sunlight to my soul, that is what I want. But how?

First, we can continue to read our Bibles when we awake. This anchors our day. Second, we can praise God throughout the day. Enjoying the presence of God is a blessing. Third, we can meditate on God’s Word. Our words, actions, and reactions will show the results as we interact with others.

Finally, we can read God’s Word before going to bed. This anchors our night and helps us relax in peaceful sleep.

All of the above steps will help us develop an active dependence on our Creator.

My hesitation to trust God with my grandson’s safety cost me a night’s rest, but God was faithful to protect him.Through this experience, I learned to watch for the nudges from the One who guards my heart and mind.

Think of ways God has led you to peace rather than torment. 

(Photo courtesy of pixabay and Engin_Akyurt.)

It was a beautiful fall morning. The sun shone, the birds sang, and things went smoothly at work. Then the phone rang.

When I heard the voice on the other end, followed by an unlovely attitude, my whole day took a turn. I spent the rest of the day struggling to focus on the tasks at hand, and my mind kept returning to those troublesome words.

When I clocked out for the day and started my car, I turned on the radio. As God’s timing is always perfect, the song playing was “I Raise a Hallelujah.” The louder I sang along with this song, the more joy and peace I felt.

As David said in Psalm 28:7, when we focus on the Lord and His faithfulness to help us instead of our problems, we will have a song of praise to offer our King. The more we sing praise to Him, the stronger our faith becomes.

If that perfectly timed song was not enough to lighten my load and boost my confidence, the next song to grace the airways was also about the power of praise.

When we shift our focus from ourselves, our problems, and others, and put it on the goodness of our Savior instead, we see things from a new perspective. We notice how small most of our problems are compared to His power. Our real Enemy flees as light overcomes the darkness. We can even be thankful for the people and circumstances that cause us to draw closer to the One who helps us.

Whatever situation you find yourself in today, whether your heart is heavy due to the actions of another or broken over the hardest of circumstances, turn on some music and lift your voice in praise. Soon, your spirit will be lifted, and your heart will be filled with joy. That’s the thing about praise.

(Photo courtesy of pixabay and JESUS_is_our_HOPE.)