Each year as the new year arrives, we choose a family bible verse for the year.  In addition to that I like to pick a personal verse as well.  This year, as I was reading through my Bible in One Year devotional by Nicky Gumbel, a verse in the New Testament passage for the day basically popped out at me.  As soon as I read it I knew this was my verse for this year.  It was Matthew 6:34 from the message translation, which reads:

“Give your attention to what God is doing right now and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”  Matthew 6:34 MSG

One of the things that Nicky said in the devotional was

“Think ahead, plan ahead, but don’t worry ahead.”

Now I don’t know about you, but I am notorious for worrying ahead.  Not only that, but I excessively plan ahead for what I am worrying ahead about!  That is not only exhausting and unnecessary, but is actually completely pointless.  As Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 12, vs 25-26

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life ? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”

Jesus makes it pretty clear that worrying does absolutely nothing to change what is going to happen.    One of my favorite quotes is from Corrie Ten Boom who said;

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of strength” Corrie Ten Boom via Bible in One Year

All worry does is ruin our day, get us worked up, and  cause us to miss out on the amazing things that God is doing in the present!

Now, I have gotten better over the past few years at leaving more and more things to God, because when you get put into a situation where you are just completely overwhelmed and at the end of yourself, you then realize…I can’t do this and you cry out to God “HELP!” But there are still times when I allow myself back into that pattern of worry and excessive planning about what I am worrying about.  It is then that I need to remember what my verse of the year reminds me of…..and the bottom line of that is: Trust God!  I need to pay attention to what God is doing now, at this moment in my life and not worry about what may or may not happen in the days, weeks, months, or even years to come.  I need to remember that my future is in his hands.  He is a good father and I am his daughter, whatever he allows not only will he help me through, each step of the way, but he will also bring good out of it.  So why worry?!