Christianity | Semi-Seasonal

I’ve been reading through Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest”, recently, it’s been such a blessing to me. Everyday it seems that the Lord uses these old devotions to speak to me. Today’s entry was of particular interest, Mr. Chambers referenced one of my favorite and most often read passages:

“Do not worry about your life . . .” —Matthew 6:25

Here’s what Oswald had to say about it:

“A warning which needs to be repeated is that “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches,” and the lust for other things, will choke out the life of God in us (Matthew 13:22). We are never free from the recurring waves of this invasion. If the frontline of attack is not about clothes and food, it may be about money or the lack of money; or friends or lack of friends; or the line may be drawn over difficult circumstances. It is one steady invasion, and these things will come in like a flood, unless we allow the Spirit of God to raise up the banner against it.

“I say to you, do not worry about your life . . . .” Our Lord says to be careful only about one thing-our relationship to Him. But our common sense shouts loudly and says, “That is absurd, I must consider how I am going to live, and I must consider what I am going to eat and drink.” Jesus says you must not. Beware of allowing yourself to think that He says this while not understanding your circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things to the point where they become the primary concern of our life. Whenever there are competing concerns in your life, be sure you always put your relationship to God first.

“Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). How much trouble has begun to threaten you today? What kind of mean little demons have been looking into your life and saying, “What are your plans for next month— or next summer?” Jesus tells us not to worry about any of these things. Look again and think. Keep your mind on the “much more” of your heavenly Father (Matthew 6:30).”

Are you being invaded by worry? As Chambers says, the Lord only asks us to be concerned with our relationship to Him, everything else is secondary. But Common sense tells us that is silly and absurd, how could we not be concerned with our basic needs of food, shelter, and love? We must remember, that Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. So He knows our needs before we are even aware of them. In fact the Lord already has a plan to supply for these needs that we don’t even know exist yet. How wonderful is that thought? That He knows us so well, and loves us so much that He’s already supplied for every need? The only thing we have to do is follow Him.

What can we add to circumstances by worrying about something that has already been taken care of?

I know in my last post I was all gung-ho about cleaning my closet and organizing my clothes, shoes, and of course my 185, 467 accessories. But instead, Saturday, I shopped with my mother, which is always fun! Who doesn’t enjoy spending 4 hours at Lowe’s? And I’m being sincere, I really did enjoy my 4 hours exploring the wonders of Lowe’s! Then Sunday rolled around, I woke up ready to tackle my closet and finally put an end to the ever so frustrating drama of finding that certain pair of pants or that perfect shirt. But I took at look at my nightstand and found this:

I started reading “The Salt Garden”, in January over a quick weekend trip the sweetie and I took down to Corpus Christi, Texas. A nice warm weekend at the beach, ended up being a blistering cold weekend spent indoors bundled up and wishing we were back home in our nice dry climate. But it did give me a chance to start a good read. However, the trip wasn’t quite long enough for me to finish it. So, when we got home, I laid it on my night stand by my bed with every intention of finishing it. There it sat, from late January until Sunday when I picked it up and started procrastinating reading. And couldn’t put it down.

It’s one of those books you buy, and think it’ll be a nice light read, but not something you’ll get into. I was mistaken, when I started reading it back in January it started out slow, which is probably why I didn’t pick it up again until this past weekend.

This Christian novel tells the story of two women in a small town that was deeply changed by a shipwreck that occurred some 80 years prior to the present time in the book. Here’s the plot, according to the authors website:

Claire O’Rourke is a San Francisco reporter recently returned to her small hometown of Harper’s Bay for a short visit, but a contrived plot device leaves her back home for good and looking for work at The Tidal Post, a local newspaper. Her path soon intersects with that of Sophia Fleming, a 70-something reclusive author whom Claire has admired since childhood. When a salt-damaged book washes ashore, some long-buried secrets are illuminated through the journal entries of Josephine Vanderook, a passenger on an ill-fated ship.

It’s got mystery, intrigue, romance, adventure, and more importantly, it speaks of the wonders of God. And how His hand is in all that we do, even the things that don’t make sense to us at the time.

If you would like more information about this author or other works by Ms. Martinusen please visit her site.

The comments above are purely mine, and mine alone, I have not been paid to promote the author or any of her works. I enjoyed reading this book, and simply wanted to share the joy!