Another bird reference.

I love it when God makes Himself really obvious to me. I pray that often – that He would make the path obvious for us, hat He would make His work obvious in my life, that He would let the answer be obvious. And, not surprisingly, He usually answers me by hitting me over the head with it. And I love it.

I’ve been feeling the stress physically take over my body since we signed. I’m a do-er and I like things done as soon as physically possible {or earlier!} So this mess-of-a-house is going to be a challenge for me to find the patience & fortitude I need to enjoy the process and to be okay with the slightly chaotic state that’s going to have to be the norm for a {long} while. We worked again last night, packing our condo & also at the house receiving an estimate for a ceiling replacement for our bathroom, opening a doorway more, and replacing some drywall in the basement. We finally collapsed in bed later than we’d like, but when we turned to our devotional scripture for that night, I immediately experienced the hit over the head.

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ {or when will we get this house clean, or how will we figure out how to remodel everything – my add} ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6

I’ve read that a million times. And it hits me harder sometimes more than others. But God always has a way of bringing this passage up in my life right when things get uncertain, change is approaching, stressors push towards us, or my worrying-self starts to overtake my trusting-self. He’s good like that.

{I took this pic driving on a Friday night this month…this path leads to the dog park. It can’t help but think peace when I look at it.}

I still feel stress tighten my chest, making me want to put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands, but I’ll keep reminding myself to “look at the birds of the air.” It’s just a house. That’s it & nothing more. So I’m going to enjoy time with my friends who are generously helping us, laugh at the silly comments that come from my husband’s exhaustion, praise that we’ve been blessed with enough money to buy a house & the paint to make it pretty, and relish this time in our lives as we work to create our home together. {Somebody please remind me of this a few weeks from now when I’m pulling out my hair! ;)}

Oh, and I have this song stuck in my head.

Pretty applicable, I’d say.