Single Matters Magazine with Jill Monaco Ministries Christian singles discuss the matters of life, relationships, singleness and faith
Is this time of the year busy for you like it is for me? Holiday parties to attend, gifts to buy, wrap and exchange, deadlines at work to meet … All while the clock just keeps ticking away. Then you add the traffic … OH, THE TRAFFIC … that the holidays bring; it’s enough to make any sane person mad.
On one particular day, I was feeling very anxious with all the pressures of being a full-time student and employee, and my mind was racing 90 to nothing. I heard the Lord say to me, Come, and get away with me. Give me your concerns and let me give you something in exchange.
Me: God, you know I can’t hear you very well when I’m stressed out like this. My thoughts just race.
God: Just give me a chance. Come sit by me.
Feeling reluctant, I envisioned me sitting next to God.
God: Give me all of your concerns.
I pictured a HUGE stack of papers, books, deadlines, appointments, and I just slid the whole thing over to Him. I instantly saw Him smash the huge stack in between His ginormous hands, and it became one single paper that He handed back to me. When I picked up the paper, I heard God say, That wasn’t me. That was your interpretation of what I would do. Give it to me again.
So again I took that same HUGE stack and slid it over to Him, and this time he wadded up the whole stack into a small ball of paper and threw it at me. I thought, yeah, that’s what He would do with it, because it is nothing to Him. Again He said, That wasn’t me. That was your interpretation of what I would do. Give it to me again.
At this point, I am back to my first argument; I can’t hear God when my mind is racing like this. However, isn’t that when we need Him most? And clearly I AM hearing Him.
Let’s try this again. I am sitting next to God and I slide that same HUGE stack to Him. This time, I hear Him interrupt the process and say, Let me give you something in return. He hands me a larger than normal white jewelry box. I open it, and inside it’s all white and it looks empty. God nudges me to look inside a second time and really search for what is inside. This time, I see a very small white pill sitting in this very large white box.
Me: This is interesting. A white pill. What does this mean?
I immediately thought of how small a Xanax pill is; it is an anti-anxiety pill that I have taken in the past.
Interesting, God wants to give me Xanax. OK …
God: If you will take my medicine on a daily basis, I can alleviate your unnecessary stress.
I instantly knew He was referring to me reading the Bible on a daily basis, which I was good at doing before I became a college student, but now? Oh my goodness, I am good if I get to watch church online.
Me: I know I should be reading Your Word daily, but I can barely keep my head above the water with my other reading assignments.
God: Notice how large this box is and how small this pill is. Notice that this white pill in this white box is so small you have to look really hard for it. If you will just take my medicine on a daily basis, no matter how small, I can work with it once it is in you. But I have to have something to work with.
Immediately I opened my YouVersion Bible app on my phone and set it to send me a daily scripture at 7 a.m. every morning. I wanted it to be the first thing I saw when I woke up. I then fell asleep peacefully.
The next morning, it worked like a charm; my first daily scripture was delivered to my phone. I clicked on the notification, and the following Scripture popped on my screen: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us …” (Ephesians 3:20 ESV).
Did you catch that? “… according to the power at work within us …” God told me, If you will just take my medicine on a daily basis, no matter how small, I can work with it once it is in you. But I have to have something to work with.
How cool is God?
He is WAY cool.
What is something you need to take to Him? Take a moment and work it out with Him. Give Him your burdens and see what He wants to give you in exchange.
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