photo: Martha G. Brady

I feel like I am inching my way through this summer. It has been full of waits, starts and stops. For those of you who have been sick, recovering or caretaking, you know the feeling I’m sure. Not many starts and even less finishes!

I’ve been on the caretaking side of things since the end of April…sort of. I’m not really supposed to be seeing myself in that role. I’m supposed to be standing aside and letting him do for himself, make his decisions, be independent, yada, yada.

If I were a patient, calm, mellow person, I would be doing more of that. I’m not naturally skewed that way. Too bad for me. Too bad for Ron. Too bad for my family!

Is there any hope for them? Maybe. Any hope for me? Not without major change.

GOD promises to give grace to the humble.

Clothe yourselves, all of you,

with humility toward one another, for 

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God

so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

I Peter 5:5-7

I’m so not there, but humbling is something I know I always need. These days I need His grace more than ever as I learn to wait patiently, calmly and without irritation. No, I’m not there yet either, I’m just more aware of the need now.

Surprisingly, the link here in I Peter, to being clothed in humility and being aware of His care for me, is learning to cast my anxiety on Him!

What better way to realize I am frail than to have anxiety I cannot deal with! It makes me aware that I need Someone outside myself who is able to deal with those things that are out of my control.

So in times of of anxiety, impatience, the awareness of a lack of grace in my life? I can rest in the fact that GOD will work to bring about humility in my life. Although it is painful, it can be a good kind of need and pain.

It will cause me to look to Him to resolve my anxieties…or the stresses behind them. Only He can do that! Only an omniscient, omnipotent GOD who is all wise and eternal…to say nothing of loving, just, merciful and holy… is able to provide what is needed with His inexhaustible resources.

As you deal with anxiety on a daily basis or struggle with pride raising its ugly head in your life, screaming for its own way, what choices will you make?

Will you choose to bring your cares and anxieties to this awesome GOD who provides from a place of unlimited resources?

Or continue to struggle on your own, like the 2 year old…”I do it”?

Part of bringing our anxiety to Christ involves clothing ourselves in humility but in the process we will receive the grace He offers to the humble. It is worth the price isn’t it?

#InspireMeMonday

**The above photo was taken while Ron was in the Rehab hospital. We were walking one evening in the hall that goes over the road between the hospitals and the sunset was beautiful that evening. I had to stop and snap a photo with the nearby Baptist church steeple as well.