Tag: Jesus

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Marriage

1 Corinthians 13: Living Up to the Vows

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NIV

Last week, my pastor shared a sermon on love. He referred to the chapter I shared above, the chapter that is recited at weddings but that people don’t think about on a daily basis in their marriage. When I realized that, it broke my heart, especially because my friend recited this passage at our wedding. During that sermon, I did a serious heart check. Do I love my husband in the way that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 13? Does our marriage reflect the love that God wants us to display in marriage?

Although it is a cute poetic passage to read at weddings, what does it actually mean to live out the words that are written within 1 Corinthians 13?

The first three verses give us a clue into where our hearts should be. We can do all the right things, but if they are not done in love, we have wasted our time. In marriage, this looks to me like sacrifice of self. I’m giving my spouse everything I own because I want him to have it, not because I want to look good. I’m encouraging my spouse because I want him to succeed, not because I want to show off my word skills. I’m praying for my spouse and putting God first in our marriage because God is worthy, not because I think God is a genie that will grant all my wishes if I just say a few prayers.

Paul was writing this letter to a church that had glorified lust and greed instead of love and sacrifice. This letter was more than just about marriage and lovey-dovey feelings; it was about creating a new culture that elevated God more than the fleshy nature of human beings. In our marriages, we should seek to elevate God above our selfishness, our pride, and our stubbornness. We do that by putting our spouses first (before ourselves), doing a daily heart check, and surrendering those icky parts of us that cause us to put love on the back burner.

During the next few weeks, I will be sharing how the different adjectives given in 1 Corinthians 13 can be practically displayed in marriage. If you would like to contribute to the conversation, comment below (or on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Instagram) about how you, your spouse, or someone else you know has exemplified 1 Corinthians 13 in your/his/her marriage. Then pray this week about how you can best show love to your spouse and to those in your sphere of influence.

Photo by Marcus Lewis on Unsplash

*Update: I’ve been working on my book hardcore lately. They say that once you write your first book, the others just flow out of you. I’m waiting for that! Until then, I’ve been chiseling away at the free writing that I had done a few months ago, in order to create a masterpiece that will glorify God and inspire young adult women to find peace in the midst of their anxiety. So, I will be posting every other Monday and Wednesday, instead of every Monday and Wednesday, in order to make more time for my novel writing. This week I will post on Monday, and next week I will post on Wednesday. If you have an Instagram, feel free to follow me @elisabethmwarner, as I have been sharing how pursuing wellness has helped me control my anxiety.

Categories
Marriage

What are You Fighting For?

Being married has been a source of healing from my past. Divorce, promiscuity, and affairs run rampant in our culture, but because of Jesus, we don’t have to live like that anymore. However, one of the silent killers of marriage, which we always have to guard against, is a little thing called gossip.

Call it what you may. Putting down your husband. Choosing sides and asking your relatives to do the same. Harboring bitterness. Venting. Seeking advice from people who delight in evil. Justifying your actions by bouncing your ideas off of someone else.

Or, my personal favorite, just joking around.

I’m convinced that while gossip does not cause divorce, it definitely doesn’t help a marriage stay together. One piece of advice I’ve heard from a lot of people is not to share your problems with your parents. Your parents will always be on your side, not your marriage’s side, so you will always win when you ask them to nurse your wound. But the point of marriage is not to win; the point of marriage is to stay married until death do us part.

Right before I got married, my mom told it to me straight: “If you ever get so mad at your husband that you don’t want to go home, don’t come here. We’ll just send you back home to your husband so you can be reconciled.” Her advice not only showed her support of my marriage, but it also put the responsibility on me and not on her to fix my marriage.

Of course, during the honeymoon stage I didn’t think I could ever be so mad at my husband that I would want to spend time apart from him. However, through the stresses of life and the arguments that make my blood boil, it has been tempting to pick up the phone and call my mom. Just to vent. Just to justify if I’m right. Just to bounce my ideas off of someone who cares. But I can’t sugarcoat it. Gossip is gossip, and I should never put down my husband when I’m talking about him to others.

This message is for two people. First, to spouses: do not develop the habit of going to your parents or other family members to bail you out of your marital problems. If they want to offer you advice, that’s wonderful! Definitely take it, especially if they have a healthy marriage that you want to exemplify in your own marriage. However, don’t go out of your way to put down your husband so that you could prove you’re right, because when you do that, you both lose

Second, family members, parents, or close friends: Do not stick your nose in your loved ones’ marriage. If you want to give advice, it is the responsibility of the receiver to put that advice into practice. Don’t force them to conform to your way. If they come to you for advice and end up putting their spouse down, try to say things to encourage your family member to love his or her spouse again. I don’t care if it’s your son or daughter, your sister or brother, your niece or nephew, your cousin, or a close friend; if you attended their wedding, you made a promise to help them when they are struggling.

I know from experience that it hurts to see a family member fighting with his or her spouse or significant other. I personally want to stick up for my own flesh and blood. However, if the couple is married, that means they made a promise to God to honor one another and to maintain their union to one another in Christ. Help them keep their commitment, instead of telling them to give up on their marriage.

Photo by John Pearson on Unsplash

Categories
Marriage

Baby Steps

We have no news. And that’s okay
My life doesn’t always have to be on display
I don’t always have interesting things to say
But I love my life; nothing I would change

I’ve said this many times before, but being a millennial newlywed couple is hard. Social media makes it nearly impossible to enjoy your own marriage. And when you finally have good news to post, people get excited for a few minutes and then move on to the next best thing.

Did you ever notice how excited people get when a baby takes even one step? The baby is never a professional walker at first, but each step is exciting and new. Even when the baby falls, we encourage him to get up and try again. It’s amazing how, as the baby gets older and becomes an adult, we forget the excitement of each step that follows after our first.

The motto of my life is to find contentment in the now. I’ve lived much of my life waiting for the next thing. I’ll be happy when I graduate high school. I’ll be happy when I leave the country. I’ll be happy when I get through this semester. I’ll be happy after going on the mission trip. I’ll be happy when I graduate college. I’ll be happy when I get a job.

But I’ve had all of those things, and the things I wait for never satisfy me. They only steal my joy of what is right in front of me.

Let me tell you about what is going on right in front of me. My husband and I have been cooking together. We have been slowly unpacking our stuff from our apartment. We are advancing in our careers. We’re making decisions to eat healthier and be more active. And we are still very much in love.

We’re taking baby steps; each step is small, but it is forward.

Ultimately, our contentment is found in God. As I shared last week, when we put God at the center of our lives, He helps us. God has helped me find joy in life. If I don’t have joy, what is the purpose for what I am doing? Placing my hope in God has allowed me to give the little things in my life permission to be what they were made to be. When things don’t go my way, I’m not shaken. But when things go great, it’s just icing on the cake.

If you are waiting for the next big thing to happen in your life, I encourage you to praise God for the baby steps that you’ve taken so far. What are five things you are thankful for right now? What are three things about this season that are unique to any other season you’ve undergone? What victories has God allowed you to experience this past week?

Let’s all celebrate together as we take little steps on this walk of life!

Photo by Marc A. Sporys on Unsplash

Categories
Marriage

Seasons Repeat

I cannot believe it is already Spring tomorrow!  It felt like it was just Christmas. Spring is my favorite season, since I was born in Spring, and I absolutely hate the cold. During this time, I am intentional about the time I spend outside and the enjoyment of the warmth, because I know that winter will be back again in a few months.

You have been with me during my first year of marriage and beyond as I’ve learned to be a good wife to my husband and to honor God in doing so. Since God has allowed me to gain so much insight and wisdom early on in my marriage, it is tempting for me to say that I’m an expert in marriage (if you laughed out loud, I know you thought that about yourself too!). But as I’m beginning to see, just as Christmas comes every year, marriage consists of unique seasons that cycle between a husband and wife multiple times throughout their lives.

Thanks be to God, newlyweds and seasoned couples alike have benefited from my blog posts.  These couples go through similar seasons and need similar advice. While newlyweds may be learning how to communicate and how to become one for the first time, seasoned couples need refreshers on the basic things they’ve learned through multiple counseling sessions, marriage retreats, and days of living together.

We’ve only been married for one year, four months, and two weeks (but who’s counting?), but we can already see that we need refreshers. Even though we’ve acquired so many tools for our marriage, we have to juggle these tools in the real world. Between having jobs, seeing family, and completing household chores, it is easy for these tools to get lost in the sauce. That’s why we have to intentionally make time for our marriage and continue to build on the foundation we formed in the beginning.

In each season, there are aspects of our marriage that are great and aspects that are not so great. In our current season, we have found it easier to communicate and open up to each other, but we haven’t been spending as much consistent time together as we used to when we were in our first months of marriage. Seasoned couples still need to make time for their spouses. “Expert” couples still need to practice their spouses’ love languages. Couples in each season of their lives still need to know how to have healthy conflict and how to check in with each other. It is helpful to do an evaluation every week or so to see what is working for your marriage and where you need improvement.

There are difficult seasons and there are smooth seasons; there are busy seasons and there are boring seasons. However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you have overcome a step in your marriage, for there is always room for improvement.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

Categories
Marriage

Marriage on Autopilot

My husband and I have some exciting news.  We just moved into our new apartment!  We are so incredibly blessed and we are so thankful for all the help that we received from our friends and family with the move.  We ultimately thank God for providing this place for us after we looked for weeks to find the right living situation.

Before we moved, we had a lot of packing to do.  The packing involved decluttering, mustering up some boxes, organizing our stuff in designated boxes, filling up the U-Haul with all our stuff, taking the stuff out of the car and bringing it into our new apartment, and eating pizza with our friends after we (edit: they) finished all the heavy lifting.  We still have to unpack and clean a bit, but are taking it one box at a time.

After working really hard the past few weeks, move-in day was an absolute breeze.  All the hard work that we had put into the packing process helped us to have a better handle on what is normally a crazy day.  It was like we were on auto-pilot.  I realize when I am stressed, I sort of turn off my emotions and just go.  It makes it easier to focus on what I’m doing instead of how I’m feeling at the moment.  Then, after we get through everything, no matter if I’m happy, sad, angry, or whatever, I start hysterically crying (be prepared for a blog post when that day comes!).

I feel like marriage can be like that sometimes.  I know I’ve talked about how you have to make time to connect with your spouse and there are times when you have to remember why you fell in love.  But after moving, I have been thinking about how some moments just require you to move without thinking, to just get the work done.  You just need to get the boxes inside your new home.  You just need to get to your destination when you’re on vacation.  You just need to get your kids to school in the morning.  You want to be intentional in those moments, but with the nature of how quickly things need to get done, you are sort of in go-mode.

We should not be like this most of the time.  While there are families that move often, most people are not moving out of their house every day.  While people are busy and schedules are packed, our spouse should not come second to these experiences.  These experiences where we are on auto-pilot should be the exception, not the routine.

During our routine, we should be pouring into our marriage, so that when we are on auto-pilot, our love and respect for each other should be ingrained into everything we do.  Create healthy habits every day so that when the stress comes and you find yourself slipping away from your emotions, you can still fall back on those habits. These habits include praying daily for your spouse, controlling your anger, speaking clearly, being thankful for one another, and being quick to forgive.  During those stressful times, these habits will be like a breath of fresh air to your situation.

When we are stressed, the last thing we want to do is be nice to anyone.  As the most impatient person I know, I can be very short-tempered when I have multiple items on my to-do list.  Unfortunately, I don’t practice those habits that I shared when I’m feeling stressed, except praying a quick “God, I need you.”  That’s why I try to keep my stress to a minimum.  The people I love do not deserve to be disrespected, misunderstood, and taken for granted.  I need to practice love, patience, and self-control in every situation, and I can cultivate those fruits in both the calm times and the storms of life.

While we want to constantly have lovey-dovey feelings for our spouses, the reality is that life gets in the way sometimes.  Instead of acting like storms and busyness will never happen, we need to prepare ourselves for when they do.  Make time to connect and relax most of the time, and when you anticipate life is about to get stressful, create a plan that will help to minimize stress.  Ultimately, trust God to prepare you for what is to come.

Photo by Mitchel Boot on Unsplash

Categories
Marriage

The Rings

Yes, this is my engagement ring! My hubby is a keeper.

When my husband proposed, he gave me a ring he picked out all by himself.  I didn’t give him any hints; I trusted his judgment and I knew he could make a good choice.  I was pleasantly and appropriately surprised when he opened the ring box and revealed a beautiful ring with a blue diamond as the center stone.  He loves my eyes, and he said this ring reminded him of my eyes.  He put a lot of thought and love into this ring, and two years later, I still love it.

While the ring is not the most important element of our marriage, the wedding ring is a visual reminder of the covenant we made together at the altar.  When my husband and I exchanged vows, our pastor explained that the ring is a symbol of our love.  We recited the traditional vows, that we would love each other and be committed to each other through every season of life, no matter what happened.

I still remember the exact vow I made to my husband as I put the ring on his finger: “With this ring, I thee wed, and with all my wordly possessions I thee endow.”  Isn’t that such an interesting vow?  Of all the things I could have promised my husband, I promised to give him all my stuff!

After doing some research, I found out that the full traditional vow is: “With this ring, I thee wed; with this body, I thee worship; and with all my worldly possessions I thee endow.”  Obviously, we only worship God, so I’m glad that our pastor took that part out of the vow.  But the sentiment behind the whole vow is that we are to put each other before ourselves.  I don’t own anything; we share everything.  I don’t get to choose when I’m my own person and when I’m my husband’s wife; I’m always his wife, and he’s always my husband.

Every time I look at my ring, I remember that day I made that first commitment to my husband.  I’ll admit that it is easy to forget my commitments when conflicts arise and when difficulties meet us in our marriage.  I forget that I sacrificed my life to love and to serve my husband and to surrender my own will to the well-being of our marriage.  But the ring is meant to remind me that through every season of life that I promised to love my husband with everything I have, and that includes when I didn’t feel like it.  That includes when he makes me mad.  That includes when we don’t see eye-to-eye.  Even when we go through rough patches, we still love each other and are still called to treat each other with respect.  Our rings serve as reminders of that.

Whether you’re in a dry season or a difficult season in your marriage, look down at your left hand and see the symbol of your spouse’s love for you.  Your ring is a symbol of how much your spouse loves you.  If the storms of life caused you to lose your ring, I encourage you to find a visual reminder that you can put somewhere you will always see it.  As another visual reminder, we have our wedding photos all over our apartment.  Sometimes when we’re fighting, I’ll look at our photos, see our smiling innocent faces, and instantly melt.  How could we be so mad at each other when we were once so enchanted by each other?  Those visual reminders encourage me to pray for my marriage and to put my husband before myself.

Rings are beautiful.  Sometimes they are expensive, and sometimes you get them for a nice bargain.  Sometimes they are homemade, and sometimes they are from a catalog.  Sometimes they are passed down from a deceased relative, and sometimes they are crafted specifically for the one you love.  Regardless of how you chose your ring, or how your spouse chose your ring, wear it with the reminder that you are dearly loved by your spouse.

 

Categories
anxiety

When to Go and When to Stay

As a young person (under the age of 30), a huge source of anxiety has come from when to take the next step.  When do I get married?  When do I move?  When do I take that job?  When do I have children?  The instant gratification world that we live in answers all these questions with right now.  Do what makes you happy right now, no matter what it costs.

However, when we follow God, we have to ask ourselves, and God, the question: What does God want for my life?

Our default answer with God is to wait.  Most of the time, in the Bible, God asks His people to wait.  Joseph had to wait 40 years before his childhood dream of ruling would come to fruition.  The Israelites had to wait 400-plus years to be set free from their slavery in Egypt.  Paul the apostle had to learn and grow for several years before he began his missionary journey, and he had to wait several years in jail for God to be glorified in his situation.

Despite these valuable stories, I believe that some people use “the call to wait” as an excuse not to have the faith and the courage to move forward.  We think that just because we are comfortable that we are in God’s plan for our lives.  But behind closed doors, we worry that God will call us out of our comfortable lives and allow us to experience inconvenience.

There is a time and a season for everything. We are called to enjoy each season but to trust God with every season. We cannot wait and say that we are currently enjoying this season and do not want to move on to the next one. We cannot tell God that it is inconvenient to move right now. God gives us peace, and when we don’t feel His peace, we know it’s time to change something.

And once we change according to his will, he gives us peace, and that peace is beautiful.

Through much of this blog, I have gone through several transitions in jobs, living situations, and relationship status.  Leaving what I can tolerate for something that can fulfill me is so difficult, but it has always been worth it.  I do not regret agreeing to my husband’s marriage proposal six months after knowing him.  I do not regret taking a job offer from my church the day I was sitting in my kitchen eating cereal, thinking I was going to be teaching English overseas in the near future.  I do not regret every opportunity God has pushed me to make a decision quickly, because when God leads me, I feel His peace.  When He pushes me and I don’t move, I feel a burden in my soul that cannot be quenched.

The Bible also includes times when God pushes His people to move.  God told Abraham, without warning, to leave his family behind and start a new legacy on Earth.  God spoke to Gideon to take an Israelite army against the Midianites, as Gideon was hiding from the enemy in a cave.  God told Cornelius to talk to Peter so that he could receive the gospel and find healing.  If any of those people had waited, God wouldn’t have been glorified in those situations in the way that He intended.

How do you know when it’s time to go and it’s time to stay? Well, I could give you practical tips. I could tell you step-by-step ways to know. But God doesn’t work like that. Sometimes his plan doesn’t make sense.  Seek God’s peace through reading His word and sharing your feelings with other people.  When you know it is time to move, you will know.  When it is not time to move, you will know that as well.  Whether God calls you to stay or to go, trust Him in the process.

Photo by Bryan Minear on Unsplash

Categories
Book Update

Book Update: You Can Help!

This book has been a journey that has taken a lot longer than the perfectionist in me has expected!  I have finally finished editing my third rewrite.  The editing involved taking the 80,000 words I had written and seeing what fit into the plot of my book, what needed to be cut, and what needed more development.  I have a bullet point list of what I need to develop.

Would you like to help me?

My book is about a woman who struggles with anxiety.  I know my own struggle with anxiety, but I don’t want the main character’s experience to be one-sided.  My goal for this book is to have a familiar character that encourages those who struggle with anxiety that they are not alone.  If you have an anxiety disorder of any kind, click here to fill out a special form for you.  As the form explains, your answers are confidential and your name will not be shared anywhere.  Please answer as honestly as possible, and if you want to speak further with me about it, please provide your e-mail address so that I can reach out to you.  Your story will make my character more relatable.

I’ve had experience helping others with anxiety, and I believe this experience will help me create an environment for my character to find hope in the midst of anxiety.  If you are a therapist and/or have experience with helping people with anxiety, click here to fill out a special form for you.  Please do not include anyone’s names or relationship to you so that you don’t not break the confidentiality.  Your name will not be shared.  Please answer as honestly as possible, and if you want to speak further with me about it, please provide your e-mail address so that I can reach out to you.

I’m posting this on a Tuesday.  I am going to give you all until Saturday to fill out the form if you are interested.

Now that I’ve taken such a long time to write this book, I want to make sure I do it right.  I want to put more research into the book, to show that I have fully invested in this story.  I want to find just the right setting, just the right character development, and just the right ending to comfort a hurting soul.

Thank you for your help in my endeavor, whether through prayer, encouragement, or providing feedback.

Photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash

Categories
Marriage

Struggles in Marriage

When I was on my honeymoon with my husband, I knew that life could not get any better.  We were sipping piña coladas at no additional cost.  We were warm under the beautiful Bahamas sun.  We woke up at 5:40AM and went to bed at 8:00PM.  One day, we went to bed at 6PM and missed our 7:30PM dinner reservations.  But guess what?  We didn’t care!

Only fourteen months later, while the honeymoon feelings are still there (we are holding onto them as long as we can!) our lives are not as warm and fuzzy as the Bahamas sun.

Life is hard.  The money runs out, the work day is stressful, and the demands of life are more than the average person can handle.  All of those things can cause us to take out our anger on our spouses if we are not careful.

I want to offer a bit of encouragement to those who are going through a difficult season.  Regardless of where you are in life, you may be in a place where you’re tempted to fight against your spouse rather than with your spouse.  Your spouse is your life partner and journey sharer, the one who God has chosen to love you and to encourage you on your journey.  God has chosen you to do the same for your spouse.  You and your spouse are a team, a force that is more powerful together than apart.

The Bible says that two people are better than one.  That passage in Ecclesiastes talks about one person falling into a hole and another person pulling him out, and a person who is cold and has someone to keep him warm in bed.  Those are both two difficult situations that are made easier when there are two people struggling rather than one.

The same is true for marriage.

Married friends, your spouse is meant to help you through the difficult times.  Do not see your spouse as an enemy, but as a partner in crime.  Pray together and let God speak through both of you.  You will be amazed at the confirmation you receive from God as a result of what He tells you and your spouse.

Yesterday, when I was at work, I had a lot of time to think about the situation we are currently facing.  For several months, we have been praying about a specific problem that we have been having.  An idea popped into my head and wouldn’t stop nagging me. It seemed like a good idea, but it was completely against what we have been planning all this time.  To convince my husband to get on board with my idea, after I spent all this time trying to convince him otherwise, would have been difficult and would have made me look fickle.  I prayed that God would give me wisdom.

At home, while we were talking about our situation, I proposed my idea to him.  He smirked when I finished talking.  “It’s amazing that I was thinking the same exact thing today,” he said.  God spoke to both of us about an idea that we were completely against a few days ago.

Through this struggle we’ve been having, I have never seen my husband pray more.  I have never seen my husband have more faith in God’s plan and God’s timing.  My husband has done such an incredible job of encouraging me in our struggle.  And I’ll admit that I haven’t been as positive as I usually am, but I pray that God has grown me through this and that the growth is evident in my life!

Let’s face it: Life is not a beautiful trip to the Bahamas.  Instead of asking God to take away your struggle, ask God to use this struggle to bring you closer to Him.  When you trust God and trust your spouse in the midst of struggle, God will grow you and your marriage.  You will look back on this difficult season and know that God used it to fulfill His plan and purpose in you and your spouse’s lives.

Photo by Zoriana Stakhniv on Unsplash

Categories
anxiety

What to Pray When You’re Anxious

Update from last week: I decided to take my own advice and to make time for myself. Last week was more than I could handle, and instead of moving around like clockwork, I knew I needed to pause and do something for myself. My husband had gotten me a gift certificate to get a foot massage. Sunday seemed like the perfect time to get one! After doing nothing but get my feet rubbed for one whole hour, I realized that I very rarely do nothing anymore. I made a decision to make time to do nothing more often. I will consciously put away my phone, put down the book, and just let my mind wander for a set amount of time. It’s a discipline, but it is so totally worth it!

Before I met Jesus, I didn’t know how to pray when I needed help. I thought that God was staring down at me from Heaven, angrily waiting for me to concoct the perfect prayer while I stammered anxiously. As a perfectionist, I wanted to give God the best prayer to help me in my need. However, the process of trying to make up a great prayer left me too scared to even pray.

But as I grew to know Jesus as Savior, to understand that He is a Person who genuinely cares about me, that’s when my prayers began to change. I began to read His Word and to study more about who Jesus is and God’s plans for my life. Prayer became talking to God. Just like I talk to my earthly father, I can talk to my Heavenly Father with even more love and peace, knowing that He cares deeply about me and only wants the best for me. I received that privilege as a child of God through Jesus’ sacrifice of dying on the cross and forgiving me of my sins. Now I trust in Him as my Lord and Savior.

When I am in need of a Savior, I know I can call on the name of Jesus.

No matter how long or short my prayers are, they have turned into genuine prayers that cry out to Jesus for help. Sometimes I just whisper His name, and sometimes I say, “Please, Lord, help me.” I trust that He is able to help me when I need Him.

Jesus truly has a beautiful name. When He came to Earth, His name was very common. But the meaning behind it is what has shaken the atmosphere and has caused us to live in new hope, power, and life. The name “Jesus” means “our God saves.”

Jesus was sent by God to save the world.

The angel Gabriel came to Earth and told Mary and Joseph to name their son Jesus. Names were very important during that time. Your name represented your identity. Jesus’ identity is Savior. Jesus points us back to God and reminds us that He alone is our salvation.

Do you trust in His name? Do you trust in His saving power? When we know that His name has power and we trust him to meet us in our moments of deep weakness, He will meet us in His strength to change the world. When we speak the Word of God over our situations, we know that He will use His promises to bring healing and redemption into our mess.

We will trust in his name as the One who saves.

So when you are anxious, you don’t have to concoct the best prayer. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to ask for His help. It doesn’t get more simple than that: just trust in Him, and call on His name. Let Him speak to your heart in your anxious moments.

Jesus, please help me.

By speaking those words, you trust that Jesus is able to help you.

I can tell you from many years of past experience that whenever I call on the name of Jesus, He answers me and helps me in my weakest moments. May the Prince of Peace become the Lord of your life that will never leave you or forsake you!

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash