The Lord Takes Good Care of His Children

The Lord Takes Good Care of His Children.

 

The Lord Takes Good Care of Me and You.

 10/16/2022

            This morning I woke up in Nicaragua. Last night my squad arrived in the dark so today was the first time I got to see this beautiful place. Beautiful is an understatement. I am speechless and overwhelmed by this beautiful place. The Lord is SO GOOD. When I woke up, the first thing I did was gaze at the luscious mountains all around me. I saw birds soaring in the distance, I heard children laughing as they played soccer, and running with them was a stunning wild horse. As I continued to gaze and breathe in this beautiful place, I recognized the presence of my Lord and Savior and felt at peace. I have never been to Nicaragua before or seen the unique beauty it holds, but, I know my God is here, this place is his creation and reflects a piece of His heart. As I continued to take in the beauty all around me, I was reminded of the scripture; Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10). I cannot believe how beautiful our God is. He is diverse, He cares about the big details and the little ones, and He is so much bigger than I thought. I cannot even begin to fathom His glory. I do not understand Him but I know He is for me and He is worthy of my whole life. Our God is SO GOOD. As I reflected on who God is, I began to thank Him and I was reminded of all the people I love. This brought me to tears. Who am I that this Mighty God cares for me? What did I do to deserve Him? He created this wonderful place and brought me here. (Psalm 37:23-24) He created every single beautiful person in my life and blessed me with them too. What!?! He knows the number of hairs on my head and on theirs, what!?! (Luke 12:7) How is it that He created the earth, this beautiful place, then He created man and called it very good? I just do not understand, I cannot comprehend the Lord’s love. But I know He is love and He loves me and every person in my life. The truth of God’s love is what brings me to tears. I do not deserve this kind of love, and I did nothing to earn it. But here I am standing in the presence of my God who created all things and I know that He loves me, I know I am His and I recognize His presence here with me now. Wow, wowowow, thank you God!

 

Anxiety:

            The week before coming here I was drowning in Anxiety. It felt as though I was in the middle of the ocean during a storm. I felt like every time I came up for air, I would be trampled by another wave and thrown under again. My body was physically exhausted from the anxiety, but I could not sleep. The only moments of peace I had was when my eyes were closed in prayer at the end of every day after I witnessed God take care of little things that I was worried about throughout that day. But every morning I would still wake up under the water again. Some context for why I was feeling this way; I am a logistics leader on my squad. This means that I and my two friends Jan and Ethan oversee Travel days and Debrief weeks. (Debrief is what we have between countries). For our first travel day, Jan, Ethan, and I were responsible for leading our squad (which consists of 26 people) from Gainesville Georgia to Granada Nicaragua and I had never even left the country before. This wasn’t the only source of my stress, but it was a big one. With the help of our leadership, and through a lot of prayer we got the travel day planned and relayed the details to our squad the day before we left. I thought that getting the travel day planned would take my anxiety away, but it didn’t. I still felt like I was drowning. After talking to some friends about how I was feeling, they reminded me of the story in the Bible when Peter walks on the water with Jesus. In the middle of a storm, Jesus comes to His disciples who are in a boat, and calls Peter to walk on the water with Him. Peter steps out of the boat and begins walking on the water with His eyes fixed on Jesus. But very shortly after that, He looks at the waves around Him and gets scared. As Peter lets that fear creep in and take His eyes off of Jesus, he loses faith and begins to sink. Immediately when He calls for Jesus’ help, Jesus is right there with him, reaching his hand down to help Peter up out of the water. “You of little faith,” Jesus says, “Why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14: 25-33) After really meditating on this scripture passage, I realized I was allowing the fear of the unknown things I didn’t understand and couldn’t control consume me more than I was fixing my eyes on Jesus and allowing Him to consume me. I was giving fear more power over me than I was giving to the God who created me, knows me, lives inside me, and takes care of me. At this moment, I repented from allowing the fear to control me and I asked for Jesus’ help. I was then led to Deuteronomy 31:8 and Philippians 4:6, which say; “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” And “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” As I continued to renew my mind with the truth of these verses by meditating on them in prayer and refocusing my sight on Jesus, I experienced the anxiety that was once on my shoulders lose its power. It was still there, hovering right behind me and waiting at any moment to consume me again. But every time the anxiety slipped in, I recognized it and brought my thoughts back to God and His mighty power and they would slowly diminish again. The anxiety wasn’t completely gone, the water was still there, and the waves were still crashing but I was on top of them with Jesus instead of sinking into them and allowing them to consume me. The next day was a travel day and the whole day was marked with inner stillness, inner peace, and constant prayer. The anxiety was just behind me, but peace was within me and was what led me throughout the whole travel day as I and my friends led our squad to Nicaragua.

 

 

Travel Day:

            Travel day was crazy and amazing at the same time. I was praying the whole day and we watched God carry us. There were so many times that things would happen that we had no control over and no way to get through without the help of the Lord. For example, we were stopped in Costa Rica at customs because we didn’t have a bus pass with us, eventually, they let us through even though we never got a bus pass. Then, halfway to Nicaragua, the van carrying all our luggage decided they were done so we had to fit all our luggage into the bus we were in which was already full. A few people were very carsick but never threw up and as we continued to pray, they continued to feel better. And then, the biggest miracle of all happened at the Nicaraguan border. The people working at the border didn’t want to let Christians into their country. We didn’t tell them we were Christian, but they were suspicious, they questioned our friend Clayton for almost an hour, and every time Clayton thought they were going to turn us away, something would happen, and they wouldn’t. During this time, one of the workers was fighting for us. Clayton said as he was praying in his head, he could see that the worker was doing everything he could to get us into Nicaragua. Our bus driver, who was also our translator at this point helped so much by just talking to the workers on our behalf. Most of us had no clue what was going on throughout our time at the border but through prayer, and with the help of the worker and our bus driver who were huge blessings, we were let through the border! It was as if God parted the red sea for us. We still have no clue how they decided to let us in because everything was pointing to us being Christians. But nothing is impossible for God and here we are in Nicaragua. Then after that miracle, what we thought was a 6-hour bus drive to the base was only 2 hours! The day felt like blessings upon blessings. Our God is so good and so much bigger than we think He is. He takes good care of His children; He takes good care of me and you. Nothing is impossible for God.

 

 

Why Do I Worry?

            This morning when I awoke, processing all the miracles and blessings of travel day as well as gazing upon the Beauty all around me. I was speechless just thinking about how incredible our God is and I was met with gratitude, peace, overwhelming humility, and genuine awe of God. He is SO much bigger than I think He is. A lot of the time I tend to rely on my own strength for things and my own understanding. I do this because thus far in my life it has worked pretty well. But, when I was faced with leading 26 people that I love to a country that I had never been to and didn’t speak the language when I was faced with a situation in which I had no understanding or strength, I was overcome with anxiety. But our God is just too good to leave me there. He taught me how to submit my anxiety to Him, how to trust Him more, how to lean not on my own understanding or strength, and how to remain constant in prayer and I got to watch Him move. (Proverbs 3:5-6) What an honor. Travel day was such a testimony of just how much the Lord cares for His children and taught me to let go of my own understanding and trust Him more. And now, as I am in Nicaragua where the Lord clearly wanted my squad to be, I am blessed with seeing more and more of Him every day. In nature, in people, in His word. God is so much bigger than I thought He was. And He cares for me and for you so much more than we can ever imagine.

 

           

            Thank you, Lord, for your love, thank you Lord for teaching me more of what it looks like to let go and follow you. Father I pray for everyone reading this story, every person that I love so much, that you love so much more Father I pray that you too would teach them how to surrender fear, would you open their eyes to the beauty all around them, and would you provide opportunities for them to see you move and see more of your love for them in the way you care for them. God, you are SO SO GOOD! I pray that we would never forget your goodness. But when we do father and we are in the waves drowning, would you make us people who call out for your help. Just like Peter did, and I know you will be there holding your hand out to help us. Thank you, Father, thank you, Lord. Wow, I praise you and I am so glad you are in control and not me. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray all these things, Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scripture:

 

Psalm 46:10

Be still and know that I am God.

 

Luke 12:7

Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

 

Psalm 37:23-24

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fail, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

 

Matthew 14:25-33

Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take Courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” “Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “Tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed out of the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the son of God.” 

 

Deuteronomy 31:8

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

 

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Psalms 145:9-13

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion for all he has made. All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.

 

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good pleasing and perfect will.

 

2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

  

 

Helpful Songs:

 

Nothing I hold onto – Will Reagan

 

Taste and See – John Mark Pantana

 

Bigger than I thought – Sean Curran