Refuse to Worry!

1 Peter 5:7 - Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

Have you, like me, ever had something... an event, a challenge, a person, an opportunity that consumed your mind? For good or for bad, you've thought about it during most of your waking hours, whenever your thoughts had the opportunity to wander. Your wandering thoughts went directly to this situation, maybe this problem.

Well... I've been experiencing that with a situation for the last several weeks. A consuming thought that, on my own, I would try to fix, make it work, figure it out. I would walk down the hallway as I was rounding the steps to go upstairs, and in my mind, I would be stressing about this situation. How can I fix this. How can I make this work? The thought seemed constant, and quite honestly was getting exhausting.

Granted, like every good Christian, I prayed about it. :) I mentioned it to God a few times in prayer. Not that I had ever really given Him an opportunity to comment back to me, but I threw it up there to Him. Then, I went right on about my business stressing out about it, and worrying about it.

Finally, yesterday... I had the opportunity that I had to face the situation. And.... in my spirit, I knew I had to be a pressure release valve, instead of forcing the outcome to be one which I had "sold."  The outcome had gone as expected. I did go with my spirit, and didn't force the situation. Which still left me back to ground 0, back at the starting line.

"Ok God. Now what? I'm tired of worrying about this. I'm exhausted trying to figure this out."

For the first time during this ordeal, I heard that still small Voice say, "Then don't."

"What?"

"Then don't try and figure it out."

It finally clicked. I had REALLY been trying to do all of this on my own, instead of doing what I KNOW to do, which is the answer found in 1 Peter 5:7, cast ALL of your cares on the Lord! For weeks I had been carrying the stress, the care, the concern, the pressure about this situation. My waking thoughts constantly drifted to this area of frustration and unresolve.

Finally I did what I should have done weeks before, I said out loud, "Lord, I CAST this care on YOU! I'm going to let YOU handle this! I'm going to let YOU take care of this and work it out. YOU know just what I need, and you know how to bring it about perfectly! I haven't been able bring it about for the last 4 weeks, so, I'm DONE! I CAST THIS CARE ON YOU!!"

That, was yesterday morning. A few times throughout the day, probably out of habit, I caught myself worrying about the situation again. As SOON as I caught myself worrying about it I said, "NO! I have CAST that CARE on the LORD! I refuse to worry or be concerned about it. Thank you Lord for handling it for me!" I had to do that at least twice yesterday.

I had heard a minister say once, "When you try to carry your own cares, like YOU can handle it, it is actually an area of PRIDE. It's like you are telling God, you do not need Him and you can do it on your own."

To my surprise, by the end of the day, the Lord had brought about not ONE, but TWO alternatives to the situation. Alternatives that appear to be WAY better than the one that I had been trying to force. Granted, the situation isn't fully resolved yet, but I look forward to an AWESOME report since I'm FINALLY traveling down the road of letting the LORD fully resolve and make perfect the situation!!

Sooooooo.... what is it that YOU have been holding onto? Is there something in your life that you keep picking the care back up? You put "the care" in God's hands, but to only take it back an hour later and begin again to worry and stress about it? Is it your weight? Your marriage? Your business? Your children? Is it a relationship at work? Is it trying to keep your house clean, but the never-ending cycle of busyness seems like it's making it impossible?

Are you holding onto a care that you've been carrying on your own for a long time. The stress and pressure of it just weighs you down? Friend.... I encourage you to, once and for all, cast that care on the Lord! He really does care for you, and I GUARANTY, HIS outcome will be better than ANYTHING you could have manufactured on your own! :)

We have a joke in our house... when we have a situation that we catch ourselves worrying about, we say, "I could CARE LESS!!! I could CARE LESS! I CAST that CARE on the Lord! I refuse to care or worry about anything!"

God is in control! Amen?! :) Be blessed friend!

#155 - CARE LESS!

Good morning! I have done one great "chore" this morning, GO ME! I took out the recycling. :) Isn't that great! :) We were a little overflowing since last week we forgot. Anyways... I'm sure you are super happy to know about the mundane things that happen here in the McCart house... things that I'm sure happen at your house too! It is a BEAUTIFUL day though, so it was nice to take an early morning visit to the outdoor world. I smiled because I noticed that our first daffodil has bloomed. Not to be confused with dandelion, because I have seen a few of them in bloom too. TJ enjoys picking them... I think he may have even tried to eat a few. Does a mother's duty ever stop? "No, don't eat that! Don't put that in your mouth!" Arghhh. :) I won't wish the time away, I'm sure he'll stop putting everything in his mouth soon enough! Ha!

OK... let's get started! There may have been trickles of this in some other devotions, but this morning I feel led to talk about it front on! So, let's go!

1 Peter 5:7 - Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

What a GREAT verse, and so critical to DAILY Christian living! I explicitly remember when I really caught the meaning of this verse, its fullness. Tyler and I were watching a minister that we really enjoy, streaming on our laptop. He always makes us laugh! Well, in this particular message he was talking about what could be some of the "stresses" of ministry. #1 being, paying the bills. He recalled a story about a bill the ministry had received. This wasn't just a light bill for a few hundred dollars, this was a Television bill in the tune of a few MILLION DOLLAR$! Yes! A few million! The bill was coming due soon, and the money was not there to pay it. The minister said, "I cast this care on you Lord! I could care less about this! I'm not going to care because you tell me to cast that care on YOU! I cast it on you! I could CARE LESS!" To take the situation further, since he was led to have a TV ministry by the Lord, he held up the bill and looked up to heaven and said, "JESUS! YOU'VE GOT MAIL!!!" LOL! Now, if you could just hear this minister, he is a hoot! He took 1 Peter 5:7 literally, and now so do I!

Often, in our home now if we have a situation that could cause stress, we just cast it on the Lord and just to spite the devil, we say, "I COULD CARE LESS!" This minister also said that "carrying a care" or "keeping a care" is a form of pride. Pride. When we hold on to that care... let's say it is a bill, or health, or a relationship.... when we hold onto that situation INSTEAD of casting it on the Lord, it is a form of pride. It is like we are saying, "I can handle this on my own, I DO NOT need the Lord's help."

Tyler and I just decided, we were not going to "CARE" anymore! We were going to CAST ALL of our cares, like what the amplified says, the WHOLE of our care, our concerns, worries, anxieties ONCE AND FOR ALL on the Lord, for He cares for US! He doesn't want us to carry burdens or worries. He doesn't want us to carry anxiety! Imagine the FREEDOM! After being so weighted down with carrying a burden, to FULLY cast it on the Lord and just yell, "I COULD CARE LESS!" It really is freeing! Throw your arms out, and cast that care on the Lord. You do it with your whole heart, and tell me you don't feel better! I would imagine you will feel a weight lifted of your shoulders and feel better than ever.  To finally just tell God, "YOU handle this." "YOU show me how to provide the income for this." "YOU give us a new vehicle." "YOU DO IT!"

What freedom! Now the thing is.... after something has been cast on the Lord, He may very well reveal to you how to solve the problem. Then it does take you, taking HIS plan and acting on it.

What freedom! Just this morning, the Holy Spirit was reminding me to NOT get into bondage feeling like I needed to be "teaching Tyler Jr this" or "teaching him that." Making sure we go to the park, or play outside. Etc, etc.... He reminded me that just Tyler Junior being HOME with his MAMA... being in the environment that I have created for him will be the largest factor in growing him up to be an amazing child and eventually man of God. Not whether he goes to the library at 16 months old, or zoo, or park every day. It is the environment I create at home. The Holy Spirit was reminding me, to cast that onto the Lord. I was starting to pick up that care a little bit.

SO, I COULD CARE LESS! I'm going to have a great day! It's going to be a Spirit led day, and it's going to be GREAT! :)

What about you? Do you need to CARE LESS too? Try it. I think you'll like it!