God's truth renews my mind as we head off...

I'm up at 2:45am right now....amidst thunder and lightening and pouring rain and a severe thunderstorm warning in effect...and decided to take advantage of these few moments to post prior to heading off on our trip in the morning. I am such a worry wart and the fact that there is a chance of tornados with storms like these sets me a little on edge. What a fitting start to this post....

I have been worrying and feeling anxious about our trip to Mexico. My mind is honestly like a running movie script. The worst case scenario is often one of my first thoughts which leads me to in a split second to see it all play out in my mind like a movie. I realized this a few years ago and it actually was kind of reassuring to see that this is what my mind was doing...and now I often tend to laugh at how fast and wild my imagination can be...and give it to the Lord. Here are some examples of how my mind works...

Severe thundestorm warning...and of course that slight chance of a tornado pounding through the area is what hits our house...and we are all sleeping so we miss out on escaping to our safe spot in the basement...and all die in the tornado.

Lightening storm...either we have lightening strike our tent, hit the ground and an electrical current run right up our bodies (or our kids bodies) and zap our hearts....or the lightening hits a tree above our tent, sending it crashing down on top of our family, right on our hearts of course!

Mosquito bite....of course west nile virus and we get encephilitis (swelling of the brain) and die.

Respiratory illness...it's the H1N1 (swine flu) and whoever has it in the family gets hit with the worst case scenario and of course dies.

On a rollercoaster ride at ValleyFair (where we're going on Tuesday by the way) and either Jon or I have heart failure and die....or the rollercoaster has a defect and we plummet to our deaths!

Snorkelling...of course we meet the dreaded lone hungry shark in the area and get devoured....or we hit an undertow current and get swept out to sea and drown.

Flying...well, either there are terrorists on board and the plane is hijacked or there is a defect in the plane and we plummet to our death.

In Mexico, driving in a taxi, with a young and crazy fearless race car driver, with no seatbelts on, our entire family of four squished into the back seat of the little vehicle, luggage filling the front seat (which we all know in an accident becomes a HUGE dead weight being thrown around)...well, it is just a death trap in my mind!

The kids having fun playing at the Fletcher's house (where there are so many open windows on the second floor and a huge empty cavern of a pool in the backyard)...and you can probably guess where my thinking wanders...the kids fall from something to their death.

Oh boy, what a list!! It goes on and on and on and on. My brain honestly just functions this way far too often. In fact from an early age I was a worry wart. My grade 2 teacher wrote on my report card "Christina worries too much." LOL

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I lived in a country (my parents were missionaries in Pakistan and I was isolated from them much of the year going to boarding school far from them)....where there were more risks that we took, more uncertainties, more tangible fears. I'm not sure. I have some pictures in my mind of some pretty dangerous situations we were in...and asked my parents about them recently and they said that yes, they were quite concerned in those situations. So it wasn't just me making up scary stuff. It was real.

Needless to say one of my favorite verses from a young age was

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:31

Okay, maybe I should have made my favorite verse instead,

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

That may have been a more useful scripture to cling to! LOL Anyways, whatever the case, as you can tell, I'm a wimp!!!! And a worry wart!

And this trip to upcoming trip to Mexico has brought to the forefront much of my tendency to allow these worries and anxieties to build in my life. I didn't realize how much this burden was affecting me until the other day when I realized how tense I was, how my heart would race, how I was filled with fear...

And then these words of scripture broke forth, filling and renewing my mind with God's truth.

28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Oh boy is that ever me! I need to come and draw near to the Lord. I'm weary from all this worry and definitely burdened with the anxiety. Oh how I need rest and peace, to trust God and His sovereign will. Allow God to be my strength and do the work by taking His yoke. Learn from Him. Oh how I need that. Rest for my soul....oh, please, Lord! For His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

These words cut right to my heart. They were just what I was needing. Fix my eyes on Jesus. Trust God. Those are hard words when facing fears I tell ya! Cast my anxieties on Him because He cares for us. God's all-surpassing power and strength are what I need to rely on in the face of any fear. God is in control. That is a big one that I need to truly allow to renew my mind.

Then yesterday at church we sang a song with these lyrics from "You are God alone."

You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
You are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You were on the throne
You are God alone

Here is the youtube video of the song...
"You are God alone"


Oh what a refreshing drink for my soul. God's truth. The anchor in the midst of all the worries. Safe within His will. My soul feels at rest. I feel a deep trust in Him. That He is God and He is in control and that He is all-powerful and all-knowing.

God has been transforming me and drawing me near. My heart is filled with thankfulness for so many blessings, for relationship with Him, for this opportunity to minister we have unfolding in front of us, for His sovereignty.

I had no clue this post was going to be this longwinded! Especially at this hour! The storm is still raging around me, outside the house, with hail pounding the roof, but I am safe inside and feeling at peace. Which is a great illustration of how God wants me to be in the storms of life...at peace with Him as my anchor and refuge. What a great note to head off on, isn't it!

Thanks Lord for your truth, for your word of encouragement to my soul over the past few days, for your sovereignty. Amen.

And so we're off! I'm not sure how much I'll be online over the next month, but I'll try and touch base a few times...

Adios! Hasta luego! Dios te bendiga!