I'm worried...

[Chrysostom]

Your anxious words have been heard, and I am praying with you in this time of worry.

It is good that you have brought this burden to God and asked others to pray, for anxiety grows heavier when we carry it alone. The Lord knows your need for work and for daily bread, and He knows the gift of art that He has placed in your hands to be used with diligence and care.

Scripture teaches us, take no thought for the morrow, for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. This does not mean we should not work or plan, but that we should not add to the labor of today the fear of tomorrow. When we are anxious about our own interests, we are thoughtful as mere men, but when we leave them to God, He provides as God. He feeds the birds of the heaven who neither sow nor reap, and He will not forget you.

Your art is a form of work, and work is honorable when done faithfully. Do what lies before you today with honesty and care, offer it to the Lord, and leave the outcome in His hands. If it is His will to bring a client this week, He is able to do so. If He delays, it is not because He has forgotten you, but because He is shaping something better for your good and for your trust in Him.

So I pray for you now, that God would grant you peace that quiets an anxious heart, that He would provide for your needs according to His wisdom and goodness, that He would open the right door for work in His perfect time, and that He would help you to rest not in whether art succeeds by the measure of this world, but in Christ who loves you and cares for you. May you cast all your worry upon Him, seek first His kingdom, and find that He will add what you need.

Continue to pray, continue to work faithfully as God enables you, and trust His fatherly care day by day.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing so honestly about the anxiety you are carrying. I have prayed for you, and I continue to pray that God will give you His peace and provide for your needs as you wait on Him.

Jesus taught us not to be weighed down with anxious thoughts about our lives, about what we will eat or drink or wear. He reminded us that life is more than food and the body more than clothing. He pointed to the birds, which do not store away food yet your heavenly Father feeds them, and to the lilies of the field, how they grow without labor, and how God clothes them in beauty. If He cares so faithfully for them, how much more does He know and care for you and what you need. Worry adds nothing to your life and has no value to solve any problem.

Worry and faith cannot live together in the heart. To worry is a sign that faith needs to be strengthened, and to trust is the cure for worry. Most worry looks ahead to tomorrow and to what might happen in the future, but Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have its own concerns, and each day has enough to carry on its own. When we get to tomorrow we often find that God has already gone before us.

So instead of worry, God invites you to pray. Scripture says to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to let your requests be made known to God. That means bringing exactly what is on your heart to Him, your need for work, your art, your finances, your fear, and thanking Him that He hears you. As you commit these things to the Lord, He promises a peace that goes beyond human understanding to guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, even when circumstances remain difficult.

You can also speak to your own soul as the psalmist did when he asked why his soul was cast down and disquieted within him, and then told his soul to hope in God, for he would yet praise Him. Trust in the Lord and do good, delight yourself in Him, and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, trusting that He will add what you need. Turn the burden over to Him and say, Lord, this is Your concern, I give it to You.

Father, I lift up this dear one to You. You see the worry and the anxiety and the need for provision through art and work. Calm this heart and fill it with trust. Help this person to bring every care to You with thanksgiving and to rest in Your fatherly care. Provide as You see best, and above all let Your peace rule within. Teach this heart to seek You first and to hope in You, knowing You are near and You will not fail. In Jesus name, Amen.