Letting Go of Imaginary Worries

November 19, 2015 By: Angela Parlin

Image By Angela Parlin

I used to think I didn’t struggle much with worry.

And then I became a Mom a decade ago. Suddenly there were so many what ifs to contend with. My imagination easily ran off to terrifying places, thinking two steps ahead of them, often fearing the worst.

Sometimes still, I get caught up in a whirlwind of worry, even though I know I don’t get to control things. Even though my trust in God has grown.

Shakespeare said cowards die a thousand deaths, and the brave die only one. I’ve heard a variation of his quote, which rings true for me:

“Some people die a thousand deaths before they die one.”

(Author Unknown)

I know the truth of my thoughts and my imaginations. I don’t tend toward bravery, but fear. How many deaths have I died in my head, or how many deaths have I feared for my loved ones?

What about you? Do you get trapped in worry? Have you grieved for those you haven’t even lost? Do you try to figure out the future, even though you have no power there?

When I’m stuck in worry, my best response is to turn each concern into a prayer, and to listen.

I am God, He says.

I am a good God, He says.

Trust me, He says.

He calls me to hand over all of my concerns to Him, each time they find their way back into my mind.

He calls me to bring my life before Him, to bring my loved ones’ lives before Him, day after day, and to place them in His hands.

He calls me to come to Him in prayer, to lay out the pieces of my life, to entrust it all to Him.

He calls you to all of the same.

When worry takes over, what we need most is to find our way back to the quiet, to fix our eyes upon Jesus once more. There, He speaks kindly to us, transforming and renewing our minds.

There, peace takes over, and worry morphs into trust.

We stop trying to carry our hurts, our struggles, our pain on our own.

We stop trying to bear our burdens–both our real ones and our imaginary ones–apart from the God who holds the whole world in His hands.

And when the worries return, as they often do, the Lord invites us to trust Him again, because He is God and He is good.

Some people die a thousand deaths before they die one, and I don’t want to be that person anymore. Lord, help us to live in peace instead of worry, to trust you with all the pieces of our lives.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you; I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. John 14:27

READ this post also at PurposefulFaith.com!

Some Things Are Meant For Unfolding

October 22, 2015 By: Angela Parlin

We’ve been working on folding shirts a new way, in my two younger kids’ rooms, because the old way, Mom’s way, was not working.

Our new fold is really a cross between rolling and folding. Instead of stacking shirts flat, we place them in their drawers almost upright. The kids are able to see which shirt they’re pulling out before they move anything around, and so the rest of the drawer stays neat. I like neat. 🙂

Our littlest is five, a great age for being a helper. This new fold is something he does well, and he’s excited because he does it all by himself. He often says, “You HAVE TO come see this, Mom! My shirts are so good!”

I gasp and tell him, “I’ve never seen anything so neat (especially in this room)!” And he nods his head, proudly.

We get a little excited around here about new systems for keeping things neat and tidy and well-managed. But there are some things which were never meant to be kept in a drawer, out of the way, folded up tight, and managed.

Psalm 119:30 says, The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

I wonder, what is this unfolding, and how often do we approach God’s Word this way?

Do you come to this ancient book, ready to unfold the words and let them unfold upon you?

Do you sit long enough to allow layer upon layer to open before your eyes, lighting the path of your life? Lighting the way to life?

I love to study God’s Word, yet I’m convicted. Sometimes I allow myself to get swept up in the busyness of life, much of that busyness my own making. Then I approach God’s Word as a super-quick fill-up. I know I need it to get through the days, but I don’t always spend the time.

I don’t always approach the Word the way I’d approach a person I love.

I come rushed, asking for what I need, and please, God, drop it on me fast, because I also need to be out the door in a minute.

I hope you don’t hear any condemnation here. I believe God honors any minute we give Him, just as He honors the hours. But sometimes I see a pattern in me, and I wonder if you see the same.

Sometimes I forget this book is a treasure waiting to be unfolded, waiting to give us light.

His Word is alive and divides me in two. It lifts my eyes beyond everything I can see. It lifts my eyes to heaven. It grows my love for Jesus, for others, and even my love for me–as His work of art, His chosen, His beloved, His sister.

Do you unfold His words, and let them unfold upon you?

To unfold means to open. That’s a pretty straightforward starting place. We open His Word and let His words enter into our hearts.

To unfold is also to reveal, which is something the Lord does for us. He unfolds His words upon us, reminding us of truth or revealing truth in a new way.

Finally, to unfold is to interpret or expound, which takes time and the effort to dig in.

God’s Word is a treasure, and any effort we spend unfolding it, manifests in our lives as light and understanding and wisdom.

Lord, Your Word is perfect, and it refreshes our souls. Your Word is trustworthy, making us wise. Your Word is right, giving joy to our hearts. Your Word is radiant, giving light to our eyes. Your Word is righteous and pure. It is firm and endures forever. Your words are more precious than gold. Help us to treasure them, to treasure You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. {adapted from Psalm 19}

See this post at PurposefulFaith.com!

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Jesus, Where Are You? {#RaRaLinkup}

September 29, 2015 By: Angela Parlin

Sometimes, life leaves us wondering, Jesus? Where are you?

Sometimes trials last year after year, and we don’t see how God works good things through those hard places.

So often, we need a reminder of who Jesus is and what He’s done and what He’s still doing for His loved ones.

The book of Hebrews begins by telling us that God speaks through Jesus to the world.

Previously, God spoke to the prophets, the Old Testament writers. He revealed Himself to them, with divinely inspired revelation, but that revelation was incomplete. He also spoke to people through angels. The original audience for this book, the Jews, had highest regard for the ministry of angels.

But now, God wants us to know, He has spoken in a far superior way.

God has spoken to the world through the person of Jesus Christ, His Son, who is greater than prophets and angels.

Hebrews 1 offers 7 awesome descriptions of Jesus Christ:

He is Heir of all things. He owns the world.
He made the universe.
He is the radiance of God’s glory. As the sun’s brilliance cannot be separated from the sun itself, so Jesus’ glory is also God’s glory. (NIV Study Bible)
He’s the exact representation of God’s being. Jesus is not just a reflection of God. He is God!
He sustains all things by His powerful word. In the beginning was the Word, John chapter 1 says about Jesus. Jesus holds everything together, sustaining the world with His powerful word (Colossians 1:17).
He provided purification for our sins. Through His death on the cross, He provided the payment, to fully redeem us.
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

The right hand of God is the position of highest honor and limitless power. It symbolizes privilege, power, dominion, and authority.

We know from God’s Word where Jesus is. We don’t ever need to wonder.

Jesus is in the position of honor, at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven, actively ruling with God as Lord of all.

It’s interesting that it says “Jesus sits,” isn’t it? You don’t sit down unless your work is done. Jesus sits to symbolize that His work is complete. He has already paid the greatest cost to rescue us, and His work is complete.

Hebrews 1 continues to explain Jesus’ superiority to angels, quoting 7 Old Testament scriptures which show Jesus as God’s Son and the One whom even angels worship.

Angels may be fascinating to us, but they are simply God’s servants, His messengers, “sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.” They’re not rulers. They are beings God created to help carry out His plans for His people.

But the point of this chapter is not angels at all. The point is Jesus.

When our lives leave us wondering, Jesus, where are you?, we only need to be still in His presence and remember the truth.

Having completed His work for us, Jesus sits at the Majesty’s Right Hand in heaven, sustaining the world with His powerful word.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my Right Hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8

Hello to all my blogging friends who are here to join the #RaRaLinkup today…I look forward to reading your words this week!

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The Object of Our Confidence

September 17, 2015 By: Angela Parlin

I started this year reading through Psalms slowly. I was learning to sit alone with God to pray, making it a practice to adore God each day. I quickly understood it wasn’t coincidence at all that I had begun this reading plan along with the desire to grow in prayer.

The Psalms filled my mind with ideas and images about who God is and what He does.

God is the One enthroned in heaven, Most High, maker of all, majestic, righteous ruler & judge, our Rock, our refuge, our strength, the One who sees, and these are only the beginning.

As for His actions, in the first few chapters alone, God surrounds the righteous with His favor like a shield. He watches over them and leads them. He blesses all who take refuge in Him. He listens to their prayers and answers them. He delivers, gives relief, disciplines, and judges evil. He fills hearts with joy and peace and brings prosperity.

God is King of kings, who made the world and owns the world and rules the world and sustains it.

So then, what does all this mean about us?

God chooses to be involved in the details of our lives, we learn in Psalms. And also?

He is worthy of our confidence and trust.

David, who wrote many of the Psalms, had such deep and abiding confidence in God. I’m convicted by it, in the area of belief.

Don’t get me wrong–I don’t usually struggle with doubting God. But sometimes I struggle with doubting me. Deep down, that’s an issue of confidence in God—that He is who He says He is, that He does what He says He’ll do, and especially, that He does it for me.

I do believe; Lord, help me overcome my unbelief! (Mark 9:24)

I don’t think we need more confidence in ourselves. Because at some point in life, even the most self-confident among us will experience their confidence shaken. We are human, and in this state, we are dependent on God, whether we admit that or not. It doesn’t matter how much confidence you were born with or how much you developed through the circumstances of your life.

What matters is that we hope and trust in God.

At the beginning of our school day one morning, I asked my kids what they think it means to have confidence in God.

One of them said, “You just trust Him, because you know He’s God.”

Another said, “It’s like Hope. You have confidence because you hope in God.”

Doing a quick word study using confidence, I found the Greek word parresia, and the Hebrew word, mibtach.

Parresia allows us to look ahead with confidence–because we know Who is in control. With parresia, we have freedom and boldness, but only because of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Mibtach carries the idea of security, trust, hope, and certainty.

Mibtah assumes our confidence is based on the object of our confidence.

It’s the word King David used when he prayed in Psalm 71~

Lord, You have been my hope, my confidence since my youth.

That was David’s beautiful confession, and his story. Because of what Jesus has done for you and me, this can also become the story of our lives.

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. Jeremiah 17:7

See this post also at PurposefulFaith.com.

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God Sees

August 27, 2015 By: Angela Parlin

Sometimes I feed my children an improper view of God.

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but let me explain what I mean.

My (tween) boys love to play Minecraft on the desktop computer in our office-turned-schoolroom. Our oldest takes an online course which teaches him to code Java, and the class uses Minecraft as the platform to teach advanced coding.

So of course, he and his brother need to play in the worlds he creates, to see that it all comes together the way he planned.

I’m good with that. But only if they play by the rules.

In our house, the rule for using any kind of computer or video screen is–Ask First. Because there are a number of important things (like schoolwork) that must be done first. Not only that, but I’ve read too many articles about screen-time turning young minds to mush, and so I limit their time. About this, my boys are thrilled. 🙂

Evenso, the temptation is strong for them, to turn on the computer and click on the little Minecraft icon.

Sometimes I find them playing without permission, so I created a password for them to type in each time they turn on the computer.

The password I created? GOD-SEES.

Just a little reminder.

Just a harmless little reminder. Right? But no.

Recently, I read Psalm 32:8 on a friend’s blog, and it left me thinking about my snappy little password.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

What am I really saying to them when I’m saying God Sees?

I realized that my point was not that His loving eye was upon them.

I wasn’t exactly trying to say God will guide you because He loves you and desires the very best for you.

I realized I was feeding them the idea that the Lord is just watching for them to make a mistake. That He’s present where they play, but He’s waiting to zap them with a punishment, the way Mom sometimes assigns an extra chore or gives them sentences to write when they disobey.

But I was wrong. I don’t want my kids to believe God is just watching in order to punish them.

I want them to remember God’s loving eye is on them,
to guide them toward choices that are best for them.

I want them to understand He desires to lead them toward freedom and success, not always in the way we define success, but His way.

I want them to know His eye on them is the gift of His presence–at all times, in every place. That He wants to know them all the way down to their hearts, because of the depths of His love for them.

I also want them to want to know the Lord–to look into His heart and see who He really is.

My mistake led to an important conversation between my boys and me, and God used it to lead all of us back to the truth. I changed the computer password to what I really wanted to remind them to do in the first place–AskMom1st.

I hope we’ll never forget that God Sees—but that we’ll remember God sees all of us with His loving eyes.

See this post also at PurposefulFaith.com today!

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I used to think I didn’t struggle much with worry.

“Some people die a thousand deaths before they die one.”

When I’m stuck in worry, my best response is to turn each concern into a prayer, and to listen.

There, peace takes over, and worry morphs into trust.

Share this:

Like this:

Psalm 119:30 says, The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

Do you come to this ancient book, ready to unfold the words and let them unfold upon you?

I don’t always approach the Word the way I’d approach a person I love.

Sometimes I forget this book is a treasure waiting to be unfolded, waiting to give us light.

Do you unfold His words, and let them unfold upon you?

See this post at PurposefulFaith.com!

*Will you join me here each week? Subscribe in the box to the right–Thank you for being here!

Share this:

Like this:

Sometimes, life leaves us wondering, Jesus? Where are you?

God has spoken to the world through the person of Jesus Christ, His Son, who is greater than prophets and angels.

The right hand of God is the position of highest honor and limitless power. It symbolizes privilege, power, dominion, and authority.

Jesus is in the position of honor, at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven, actively ruling with God as Lord of all.

But the point of this chapter is not angels at all. The point is Jesus.

Having completed His work for us, Jesus sits at the Majesty’s Right Hand in heaven, sustaining the world with His powerful word.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my Right Hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8

I invite you to SUBSCRIBE to my blog by entering your email address in the Subscribe Box to the right! Thank you for joining me!

Share this:

Like this:

God is the One enthroned in heaven, Most High, maker of all, majestic, righteous ruler & judge, our Rock, our refuge, our strength, the One who sees, and these are only the beginning.

God is King of kings, who made the world and owns the world and rules the world and sustains it.

He is worthy of our confidence and trust.

What matters is that we hope and trust in God.

Lord, You have been my hope, my confidence since my youth.

I’d love to have you join me here regularly. Subscribe via email in the box to the right…look for the pink Subscribe button!

Share this:

Like this:

Sometimes I feed my children an improper view of God.

Evenso, the temptation is strong for them, to turn on the computer and click on the little Minecraft icon.

What am I really saying to them when I’m saying God Sees?

I wasn’t exactly trying to say God will guide you because He loves you and desires the very best for you.

I want them to remember God’s loving eye is on them, to guide them toward choices that are best for them.

I also want them to want to know the Lord–to look into His heart and see who He really is.

Share this:

Like this:

Compassion International

I want them to remember God’s loving eye is on them,
to guide them toward choices that are best for them.