This morning I was walking the Marina with Grace & EJ (newest granddaughter) & I ran into something. Not physically… I ran into something in my head while Grace & I were catching up on what is happening with each of us.

I ran into Worries.

She asked me if I was excited to go to Germany at the end of the month, & as I answered, I realized I had stepped right into the middle of of a pack of Worries (cares, anxieties, unknowns, & the like) that initially stuck to me like goatheads stick to your pantlegs, socks, & shoes when you walk through the Nevada brush.

WORRIES. Worries about being able to sleep with a 9 hour time difference from home. Worries about navigating the German inter-city train system. Worries about train schedules. Worries about getting lost. Worries about our health. Worries about traveling in another country. Worries about the German language. Worries about bringing too much stuff. Worries about not bringing enough stuff. Worries about getting stranded. Worries about what’s happening at home. Worries about not being liked. Worries about not being received. Worries about worry… you get the picture.

As we talked, I spoke up & identified to Grace that I was indeed experiencing a whole pack, a virtual plethora of Worries… & that I was simultaneously tackling the temptation to worry head on… I KNOW (& I spoke out loud) that I cannot address ANY of those potential Worries right now, as I’m HERE in the present, not a month in the future. I KNOW (& spoke out loud) that I have committed our trip, our ways & means, EVERYTHING about it to Jesus, & therefore, it does me no good to embrace (or even pick up) a worry that doesn’t even belong to today.

Further, I KNOW (& I spoke out loud) that God has, is, & will care for all of my & our needs, hopes, plans, etc., & that the temptation to Worry is not something He’s giving me so “I can be prepared,” for it in the future. Instead, I KNOW (& I spoke out loud) that I am making the choice & the commitment, today & going forward, to reject worry & to replace it with THANKS. Thanks to God for provision. Thanks for His care. Thanks for His favor. Thanks for His protection. Thanks for divine appointments. Thanks for the continuing of decades-long relationships. Thanks for His care over our home, our family, our precious babies, our church community, & our workplace.

THANKS. Not WORRIES.

This is (& I am) a work in progress & process… but I am determined.

And may I encourage you as well? If (WHEN) you encounter your own pack of Worries, consider responding with persistent, persevering THANKS instead. To the One who holds us, our days & times, & all we are, in His hands.