Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

• 1 Peter 5:6-9

“So don’t be proud.  Put yourselves under God’s mighty hand.  Then He will honor you at the right time. Turn all your worries over to Him.  He cares about you. Control yourselves.  Be on your guard.  Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion.  He prowls ready to chew and swallow you up.  Stand up to him.  Stand firm in what you believe.  All over the world brothers and sisters are going through the same kind of suffering.”

• My wife’s paraphrase of the Scripture above (2009)

I have been snooping, again.  In this “with a little help” series, I am using my wife’s words from an old Bible Study that she was part of.

This is my second installment of looking more at my wife’s answers to questions rather than studying  a First Place 4health Bible Study Guide, begin with Christ.  She took this Bible study in 2009.

Since on the day this post comes out, my wife’s ashes will have been interred a couple of hours before.  Having her own words live on gave me an idea of using this to follow the relationship Bible study that ended last Friday.

Since this was a personal Bible Study, but part of a group, I will not even read comments she made about others in the group, like prayer requests and such.  But since she accepted Jesus as her Savior in 2000, her answers show a profoundly deeper understanding than in the earlier years of this century.  But she even admits areas that she needs to improve on.

Now that she has passed on, that improvement is complete.

The previous Scripture was Matthew 6:25-32.  The part of the Sermon on the Mount that pertained to not worrying.  This Scripture is very similar.  But in this part of the Bible Study, praying for spiritual strength and stamina, it follows that if we conquer our active worrying, what follows that is to conquer those hidden things that still lead to worry.  In other words, we chopped off the weeds in the garden and now we are digging up the roots of those weeds, digging deeper into what makes us worry.

Why would praying rather than worrying be part of humbling ourselves before God?

“We can’t do anything because this world is broken and God is our Leader.  We have no control over our destiny.  He does.”

• My wife’s answer to the question that I paraphrased

I might quibble with her answer, but just a little.  We do have free will, but sometimes our chosen path makes things worse.  Recognizing God is our “Leader” and knowing He is in control helps us to lay our concerns at His feet.  Doing that leads to less worrying, but it also requires us to humble ourselves, turning what we might decide to do into what God knows is best for us.  The world is indeed broken, and the only solution is through God.  We may control our destiny to a minimal extent, but God has our ultimate destiny in His hands.

How does our anxiety affect our ability to trust God regarding an issue?

“Our anxiety can get in the way of truly giving our cares to God.  It can become a stumbling block.”

• My wife, as she digs deeper

My wife knew about anxiety all too well.  She was driven to get tasks accomplished, but as she got older, the crafting tasks became half finished.  She would go to bed at night, unable to sleep, thinking of all the things she had started working on during the day, but not completing any of them.  She had been a finisher and now she was losing her energy to finish anything or the attention span.  Her doctor prescribed an anti-anxiety medication to help her get to sleep.  That was not her problem.  The lack of sleep came later when she awoke to go to the bathroom and she could not go back to sleep.

But as the neurologist suggested about her early onset of dementia, less anxiety would slow down that progress.  He upped the dosage.

This entire time, I was the one who went to the pharmacy to pick up her medicines.  Each time, I had to show my ID.  I complained to the pharmacist that my wife took the medication, but my driver’s license was on file for picking it up.  If anything goes wrong, I’m the one getting in trouble.  What’s up with that?!?!  The pharmacist laughed and said that is why we enjoy having you come here to get the medicine.  You make us laugh.  Note: She avoided answering my question.

But my wife said that when she took the medicine her mind was clearer.  Most other people who take the medicine, those my wife knew, said the medicine put them in a mental fog.  My wife wondered if that difference in reaction was due to those who needed the medicine to clear their brain (overcome that “chemical imbalance”) and those that did not need the drug at all or the drug was not effective on them.  If she got mental fogginess, she would quit taking the medication.  That was what she tried to avoid.

So, my wife’s faith was growing each day, by leaps and bounds, but she did have a chemical imbalance, probably part of the PTSD from the military.  But, no, disability benefits were denied.

“I can function properly through [God’s} power and strength.  We need to pray for help and strength every day.  We ask in our Lord’s Prayer for daily bread.  That means also our daily needs.  [This daily prayer time] reinforces us both mentally (praying to God and giving our worries to Him) and physically by recalling on what you’ve prayed for.”

• My wife’s inner thoughts

And that sums it up nicely.  Jesus did not say for us to ask God for an annual bonus so that we never had to worry about our needs for the rest of the year.  He said for us to pray for our daily provisions.  Why? So that we would recognize where those provisions came from.  We get what we need from God who ensures that our needs are met.  And once that soaks in, praying that daily, our anxiety about such things goes away.

God is sufficient.  If a chemical imbalance needs correcting, fine, but God is sufficient for our needs.  Worry?  Why waste time there?

God has this.  Whatever it is.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.