Becky Crenshaw

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest. Consider the lilies, how they grow;  they neither toil or spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  O you of little faith!  Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.  Instead seek his kingdom and a these things will be added to you.  Luke 12:22,25, 28-31

I was a hot mess of worry the other night.  My mind swirled with insecurities and anxieties.  When it comes to filling my plate with life, I have a poor sense of portion size.  The Lord is working on this with me.  I seriously need weight-watchers for my to-do list.  Where everything has points.  Chaos portion control.  Hmm.  Not a bad idea.

Anyway, so I called Debbie (my amazing mentor) and laid it all out for her…

This was the gist:  I was giving a talk the next morning.  A talk of which I did not feel prepared to give.  Yes, the material had been written for weeks, but I wasn’t as “polished” and “prayed up” as I like to feel.  The tyranny of the urgent had won all week-long.  Leaving my speaking engagement somewhere closer to the middle of my priority list.

She listened to my worrisome babbling then graciously replied, “You are exactly where you need to be, Becky.”

Hmm?

“If you go in tomorrow morning feeling ‘ready’ then you are speaking in your own strength.  You would allow no room for the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do.”

Nourishing words.

“All this worry, Becky, let’s just call it what it is…it is SIN.  Jesus says, ‘Do not worry about your life.  Do not be anxious.’ Anytime you do the opposite of what God says, it is SIN.”

BING – to the – O.

She nailed it.

Sin.

I mean to tell you, it is like the veil was lifted from my eyes.  I was so caught up in the crazy that I couldn’t see what was happening. Satan had me all wound up in toiling and spinning that I was mistaking my to-do list as my strife…when REALLY I was bound by the sin of WORRY.

The worry was my stronghold...not my schedule.

Is this making sense to anyone?  Oh y’all, it was so freeing.

“Confess it Becky, and move forward tomorrow in the power of God.  Rest in Him. He wants to do a mighty work through your weakness.  For it is in your weakness that His power is made perfect.” (2 Cor. 12:9)

And she was right.  I got off of the phone with her and spent time with the Lord, confessing my sin of worry and anxiety to Him.

And it was immediate…I was free.

Oh, I needed this reminder today and I have a good feeling that someone else does, too.

Are you bound up with worry this morning?  Are you anxious about your day?

Are you like me and need weight-watchers for your busy plate?  

Let’s take a few minutes before His throne.  Confessing our sin to Him.  Handing Him our full plates and asking His Holy Spirit to make a miracle of our mess.

He is faithful.

Power Verses:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40:30-31

 

Photo by Jen Dalton.