Learning to Cast Our Cares

　　By: Anne Peterson

　　Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7

　　I could tell Mike was aggravated. There didn’t seem to be enough money at the end of the month to take care of the bills. I could see it erode his self-confidence. But it reminded me of our little grandson, Charlie when he was just 3.

　　“Oh Grandma, I lost my McQueen car and I know it will always be lost.”

　　“Did you pray?” I asked Charlie, who was filled with anxiety. “God cares about what we care about.”

　　We prayed McQueen would show up and we continued on our day. A while later I thanked God as I found Charlie’s beloved car. I held it behind my back and said,

　　“Charlie guess what? God answered our prayers."

　　I held out his little car and he took it and said, “My car was disappeared-ed and now it’s back again!”

　　And his look reinforced what I knew about God. God cares about the things we care about. If we are concerned about what our children/grandchildren care about, how much more does God care? He is our loving Father.

　　Mike and I prayed about our finances. We thanked God for how he always meets our needs. He always will as it talks about in Philippians 4:19.

　　But how do we learn to go to prayer first? Why is it we seem to go to God when all avenues are exhausted? We need to make a shift in our thinking. God is not here as our last resort. He tells us we can call on us any time.

　　Psalm 116:2 tells us God inclines his ear to us. I picture God leaning in to make sure he hears each little utterance. In Romans 8:26-27, it says when we don’t know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us. And God who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit and God answers accordingly. How foolish we are to sit and worry about God providing what we need. We are actually calling him an unfit parent when we choose to worry instead of trusting him.

　　Whenever David faced something new, he looked back at how God took care of him. In 1 Samuel 17:34-36, David remembers how God stepped in before. We know that God is immutable which means he doesn’t change. David knew that.

　　Mike and I sat down and reminded ourselves we had been in that same situation before and yet, God came through. We decided to thank God for how he was going to provide for us. And our anxiety lessened. God had this. He is our loving Father who cares deeply for us. And every time we choose trust God instead of being anxious, God is pleased.

　　Marriage is a great place to help each other when anxiety rears its head. In marriage, one can encourage the other. One can remind the other about all God has done, and how faithful God is. And we can remind each other that our feelings have no bearing on God working in our lives. Our feelings cannot be trusted. And the enemy of our souls will always try to discourage us. Satan doesn’t want us believing God will come through. Since Satan can never go to heaven, one of his jobs is to make our lives miserable. All he has to do is to try to get our eyes off of the Lord.

　　Looking back at what God has done in our lives is helpful. And if David who is called a man after God’s own heart can reflect on God’s faithfulness, then that’s what we should do as well. Learning to cast our cares is deciding to hand over anything to God that we start to worry about. After all, our Father’s hands are huge.

　　Anne Peterson and her husband, Michael have been married for 43 years. Anne is a poet, speaker, published author of 15 books, including her latest book, Always There: Finding God's Comfort Through Loss. Anne has also written and published another memoir, Broken: A story of abuse, survival, and hope. Sign up for Anne's newsletter at www.annepeterson.com and receive a free eBook by clicking the tab. Or connect with her on Facebook.

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