It's been a busy and wonderful week around here. On Tuesday our good friend Nick helped us move into our new apartment and it is good to be home.
Want to know something funny? After all the time I spent dreaming about our new apartment and waiting in excited anticipation for it to be our home, on move in day, I still had to fight a bunch of sadness and fear.
My sister Annie came to visit us on our last night in the old apartment. She has an amazingly kind heart and from the time she entered the door she was complimenting our little space and encouraging me. She reminded me of the things I really loved about apartment 105. It was such a cozy little space, one we had worked hard to make feel like home, and I really did love it. More than the space itself, I loved what God had done there - all the memories Luke and I had built there together. Annie's kind words were such a blessing to me - but I found myself using them as a reason to be afraid.
I thought, "What if our new apartment doesn't feel like home? What if the extra space makes us spend less time together?" Silly, right? But it's true. Sometimes even in the midst of blessings and God working in our lives we can loose focus when we fix our eyes on fear and doubt instead.
I carried that fear around for several hours and by the end of the evening I knew I had to take an official stand against it. Giving into fear was causing me to miss out on the joy of the new apartment and a really exciting time for our little family.
I took a walk down the hall from our new apartment back to apartment 105. I stood in the kitchen and prayed for just a minute. I made a simple statement, turning my worry over to God and then I said these two verses:
Philippians 4:6-7: 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Notice the simple, effective steps God lays out here to beating worry. And the promise!
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Ephesians 3:20-21: 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
In any situation where we see lack, we can stand against that defeating mindset and imagine a better future with God - that's what I'm believing over how God will use this new space! He'll get glory from our family and our new family home and it's going to be better than anything I could ask for or imagine! (So I should definitely start asking for and imagining some big things ;))
These verses have healed my heart and brought me out of the dark places of fear so many times. God is good and His Word changes everything. That night a fresh adoration of God grew in my heart again. He is always willing to lift those deceiving, fear-filled thoughts off of us (if we'll just trust them to Him) and help us put on faith. Since that night in the kitchen of apartment 105, my fear and worry about this transition have totally been lifted.
So here's a challenge for all of us this afternoon, whatever you're facing this weekend and whatever fears are causing you to be filled with dread, start speaking verses like these over your situation and trust Him at his Word. Tell Him the things that are burdening you. Whatever you have to say isn't silly or meaningless, He's happy to listen and ready to partner with you to strengthen that beautiful, world-changing faith that lives inside of you all over again.
Love you, friends! Happy Memorial Day!
Bonnie
*Do you have a verse you say or write when you're replacing fear with faith? I'd love for you to share that or a related testimony here -- let's build one another up! I love reading what you have to say!