Hand it to God in the God Bag


Joshua 1:9     Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go.

Psalm 55:22     Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.

Psalm 56:3     When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

Psalm 94:19     When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. 

Proverbs 12:25     An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.

Isaiah 41:10     So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Matthew 6:34     Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

John 14:1     Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.

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

2 Timothy 1:7     For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.

Hebrews 11:1     Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

1 Peter 5:7      Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand, so that He will lift you up in His own good time.  Leave all your worries with Him, because He cares for you.

 

I had a tough time with anxiety and worry as a child and teen.  My parents were told when I was a toddler and my brother a newborn that my father had developed asthma so badly he required steroids for the rest of his life.  I am a huge proponent of steroids for short term usage, usually not more than ten days, but this man was 25 years old and told he needed them for the rest of his life UNLESS he lived a bed to chair existence.  That was NOT my father’s personality—he was a worker, he played ball with us kids for as long as he could, he got up and went and helped others whether it be help build a storage unit or a garage or helped friends move furniture. 

As I said for short term urgent care, steroids can handle bunches of issues and bring relief.  Many cannot tolerate the side effects—jitteriness, unable to sleep, nervousness, ravenous appetite, and possible weight gain and whatever.  The few times I have needed them, I have been most thankful for them, and can notice a reduction of the symptoms that had me urgently seeking medical care to begin with. 

But long-term steroid use causes many lasting and debilitating effects.  He started on steroids when he was twenty-five, had a large stroke when he was 35, and required a kidney stone removal at 37 and the urologist told my mother he had the organs of a 92-year-old man.  So long short, he worked at staying healthy, but as kids, we knew he was going to die at a young age, estimated to be about 40 years old.  Because of his breathing problems, he worked second shift because it took a couple hours of being up, letting his meds work before he could move about and do his daily things.  So as kids, on school vacations or whatever, we knew he normally rose about 9-9:30, and we would get antsy if he did not get up until 10-ish.  I would challenge my brother to go get him up, and he’d refuse telling me to do it.  But neither of us did—we were too nervous.

I would go along and do well, then sprout a nervous, anxious day and unable to find another reason, would assume there was something wrong with my father.  With each phone call, I was reassured all was well.  (I have since learned that most times I get those antsy, anxious times, it is Satan trying to instill fear—but I did not know it then.)

But I was always the type to hurry and get assignments done.  If we were given six weeks to write a paper, mine would be done no later than ten days later.  Yet, I would check, recheck, then check again in the morning to ensure it was tucked into my notebook, safe and sound for delivery.  

Sometime as a young adult, I learned about a ‘God bag’ which was simply a place you wrote out your concern and then dropped it and literally gave it to God.  It took some practice—my mind was used to worrying, fretting, and trying for some kind of control I never really had.  But I knew the purpose of the exercise was to have me give it to God and NOT take it back.  I don’t even remember when I learned about placing my worries in a container and putting it away.  It was then God’s to handle. 

We, as people, ‘in control of our own destiny’—so we arrogantly believe, think we can determine how our lives will go, we can handle all.  But wherever I learned this gem of information, I knew by snatching my worries back that showed God I did not trust Him.  Yikes!  So, as soon as I realized I was fretting about something I’d handed to Him, quick! like my hands were burnt, I pushed it away to Him.  And had to do that repeatedly until my mind got into the habit of trusting it was being taken care of.  Whatever the ‘it’ of the moment was.

If I had to grade myself during that first year, it would probably be a “D” as I did not do very well.  My mind was used to fretting, worrying and after all, what else could I do with my time?  Anyway, once I realized I was back to worrying, I would mentally put the subject back in the bag, l closed it and apologized to my Creator and back off saying ‘I know You have this…so sorry.’  Initially, thoughts of whatever I was worried about came back into my mind probably twenty times or more daily.  But gradually, I recognized the exercise was working.

I was more relaxed, thoughts of the issue rarely crossed my mind, and sometimes, it was resolved for a couple of days before I realized and thanked God for handling it. 

Now, I rarely do the actual exercise of writing the issue and putting it in my bag.  I just mentally hand it off to Him and trust that if He needs me to intercede in any way, He will let me know.  Like Alka-Seltzer, ‘Oh, what a relief it is.’  

I do still have a bag, but rarely do I put a written request in there.  A neighbor drinks Crown Royal which I guess comes with a bag, but when I saw it I was ‘Wow, that looks royal.  That would make a great God bag, and I can say I’m giving such ad such to my Royal Crown.’  I might actually place something in the bag once every 18 months or so.  I know God has whatever my concern.  It does me NO good to worry and fret, and He will work it out.  It’s like living a different life.  This kind of peace certainly surpasses my understanding, but His yoke has made my burdens lighter. 

Give all your cares to Him.  Your worrying is not going to change the outcome, but You know He has good plans for you to prosper and not harm, and he has commanded us to not worry; do not be afraid.  My life burdens and worries have lessened drastically.  This was a wonderful lesson of blessing to learn.  Thank You for all Your direction, nudging and teaching me in life and with ‘mybellaviews.’

 

 

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