Scripture: Isaiah 43: 1-7 “Don’t Worry!”
My translation says this….
“But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
I really needed to hear a sermon about worry this week. Or just be reminded that I don’t have to live my life worried about everything. It is truly great to be able to turn my worries over to God and just relax…
Okay… that whole paragraph is a lie. Maybe that’s the way it works for some people (maybe even most people), but that’s little comfort for me. I have to take it one moment at a time instead of saying “here you go, God” and then never thinking about it again.
If you’ve read my previous posts, then you know some of what’s going on with my body. But not quite everything. Just in these next 7 days, I will have a chest x-ray, an ultrasound (of my thyroid), an MRI (on my uterus), consultations with two different ENT’s (One Spanish and one military), and a followup appointment about the MRI results. Then MAYBE I’ll know what the next step is.
I am trying to memorize part of the passage above so I can recite it to myself when I have moments of worry or panic.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
This part in particular because it doesn’t promise that we WON’T pass through waters or rivers and we WON’T walk through fire… just that when we do we won’t be alone. So I just keep saying those verses to myself.
I’ve also noticed that I’ve been left alone a lot during these appointments. Someone will need to take a scan to make sure they got the right picture they wanted, or to get a second opinion about something, and I’m stuck sitting in the room… just waiting. I’ve been using those times to pray. I just pray that I will make the people who are dealing with me feel better than they felt when I walked in. I try to make sure I talk to them and let them know I appreciate them doing their jobs. It also helps me take my mind off of whatever I’m trying not to worry about.
The other part of the passage is: “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you,”
We all know… “God is love”… but to see the words “I love you” just makes me smile for some reason.
The MRI this week is the first one I’ve ever had, and so my amount of worry over this is huge. It doesn’t help that it’s in a Spanish hospital and, while I’m working hard to learn Spanish, it’s still really hard to communicate. So I’m going to recite these verses moment by moment and lie as still as possible, probably with my nose itching, and pray that I can put a smile on the technician’s face before I leave (being funny in Spanish is so much more difficult)… or really they just smile most of the time when I try to speak Spanish, so it might not be as hard as I think! 🙂
I hope everyone has a slower week than me, but that you’re still able to make someone smile. I pray that someone makes you smile, and that this week is better than last week.
Welcome to my world… it’s pretty great around here!!
Amanda
Always Walking Forward 