Tag: Trust (Page 1 of 2)

Anxiety and the O.T.

February 23, 2026 / Shari Baar / 2 Comments

I used to be embarrassed by the Old Testament. With all the traumatic events mentioned during those thousands of years – murder, sexual exploitation, military invasions, natural disasters, political scandals, family dysfunction – I used to think it was all a bit too racy to be included in a holy book. I remember thinking,

“If I were God and wanted people to love and believe in me, I would have sanitized those stories and kept out the ugliest sections…”

Good thing I’m not God…

The older I get and the more time I spend reading the Old Testament, the more I’m amazed at how comforting it is to read about people who have lived through dreadful life stories and have come through with even greater trust in their Creator.

Remember Moses? When God chose him to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt, he gave God every possible reason why he shouldn’t be the one. He was not an orator, he was scared, nervous and tried to convince God to choose someone else. Moses had murdered an Egyptian 40 years earlier and had extreme fear and trembling, unconvinced he was the one to lead a million people cross-country through the desert. Yet he reluctantly agreed. God showed up when He said he would, working through Moses with his brother Aaron as his mouthpiece, and the rest is 40 years of desert history.

Naomi was the widow who lost not only her husband but both sons to death within ten years. She asked others to call her Mara, meaning bitter, instead of Naomi, which means pleasant. Naomi said,

“The Strong One has dealt me a bitter blow. I left here [Bethlehem] full of life and God has brought me back with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why would you call me Naomi? God certainly doesn’t. The Strong One ruined me.” Ruth 1:20

God allowed those words of hers to be recorded for millions of others to read. Even though she had given up on God, He had not given up on her and planned a good ending for the tragic story she was living. When she returned to her home in Bethlehem along with her daughter-in-law Ruth, God provided a husband for Ruth, who in turn gave birth to a son who ended up becoming an ancestor of King David and was one of the few women named in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

God isn’t afraid of letting it be known publicly that His people often don’t trust Him. He’s not ashamed that He is perceived as harsh, unfair and demanding. He lets us speak our emotions, even though they may not be the truth about who He is. Yet He humbly conceals Himself as he works all things together for good – to those who love him. As C.S. Lewis writes:

“We may ignore but we can in no way evade the presence of God.

The world is crowded with him.

He walks everywhere incognito.”

My friend Kara’s favorite story in the OT is about Samson. Samson the womanizer, the royal screw-up, the proud and arrogant man who disobeyed God and lived a haughty and egotistical life. Yet in the end he was humbled, and God was able to do mighty things through him.

Samson is the last Biblical person I would admire, yet that story gave my friend great hope that even with all her failures and sin, God is redeeming her life in amazing ways. His mercies never fail, and His ways never cease to surprise me.

Whenever we read FB and IG posts of seemingly perfect people and families, taken at a moment of peace and success, we seem to assume this is everyday normal for them. The Old Testament, however, shows characters as real people – their struggles, weaknesses, failures and joys – and how God works through all of them to bring about good. The stories relieve my anxiety because it’s not the people themselves who pose as heroes but as fallen humans in the hands of a merciful God.

Do not fear for I am with you;

Do not be dismayed for I am your God;

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

These stories give me great confidence. When I see how God worked through all those people of old, how He was never in a hurry, how He continued to forgive, how His love was long-suffering and patient – it gives me hope. It helps me trust that He is working in my story as well.

When I look at all the uncertainty of our age, the anger and divisions between people groups, the pandemic of fear and anxiety trying to infect us all – I stop and read these stories. I read and re-read them, and it brings me peace. This is not the first time the world has been a tough place to live, and it won’t be the last – there is indeed nothing new under the sun.

Take heart and know God cares about you, just like all those people who lived thousands of years ago. He has not forgotten you. God is who he says he is, He keeps his promises and is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Trust Me

September 29, 2025 / Shari Baar / 0 Comments

For six years Larry and I lived with my parents as they approached the last years of their lives. Moving in with my parents when I was 60 had never remotely existed on my 5- or 10-year plan, yet it became an unexpected blessing. We traveled from Michigan to Idaho to live with them and throughout those years I was continually amazed at how much I learned from my mom as she suffered from dementia. Here are a few important life lessons she taught me,

Laugh at the repetitive humor – as a little child would

Almost every night after we had cleared the dishes Mom asked, “What do I do next?” And almost every night Larry’s response would be “Dance with me.”

He would put his arm around her shoulder and start doing the quasi-Rockettes kick while she stared at him in disbelief. Mom would look over at me and say “You live with this guy? I think I’ll send you a sympathy card.”

The same after-dinner conversation happened often, but of course it was new every day for Mom. I learned to find delight in the repetition.

Many times during the day Mom would ask,

What do I do, what do I do?

She simply needed direction and instruction about what comes next in her day since she would wander if left on her own. So I gave her jobs she loved and had done for decades yet couldn’t remember what they were – like watering the hanging flowers on the deck, emptying the dishwasher or help with making applesauce.

Sometimes we’d take a walk down the lane and talk about the crops growing nearby. We would exclaim in amazement when the corn next to the lane grew taller than us. Mom was a fair-weather walker, if there was a whisper of wind or if the weather was over 80 degrees, a walk would not happen.

My favorite time of the day was 10:00 because it became music time. Mom had played piano for over seven decades so she had most hymns and popular songs memorized. I could keep her busy by naming songs – anything from You Are My Sunshine to Amazing Grace – and she would play them beautifully by memory, complete with modulations and improvisation. Although she didn’t ever know who I was (are you the lady that lives at the end of the hall?) she remembered the notes to every song I ever named.

One day I came into the den when she was waking from her nap. She was in tears, crying out,

Lord, what do I do, what do I do?

Confusion reigned in her mind as it had become tangled and disobedient to her commands and desires.

What a beautiful picture of what we should be doing every minute of every day. I need to stay connected with Jesus and seek His guidance to live my life well. He has promised to give wisdom to those who ask. Sometimes He simply says,

Trust Me. Give thanks because I am working for your good, even when there is confusion and darkness all around.

Whenever I instructed Mom to do work like snapping beans, she is usually eager, although not without a few moans and groans now and then. But if there is no direction from me, she would have no idea where to go or what to do. If I am out of sight for more than a few minutes I would hear her calling,

Help! Help!

I would quickly come to comfort Mom and steer her back again to set the table and fill the glasses with water…

My mom taught me so much during those days. Even though her mind was foggy and forgetful, Jesus often spoke through her life into mine.

Look to the weak people of the world, there is wisdom to be found.

God Box

June 26, 2025 / Shari Baar / 0 Comments

Do you know that on average you make 35,000 choices every day? I had no idea, but that’s what the research says. You can choose to get out of bed in the morning, choose to smile, choose to be kind to your husband and choose to say “thank you” to the people around you.

You can also choose to worry – about what your friend thinks of you, worry about wearing the right clothes, about what your children are doing… the possibilities are endless.

Every day we are faced with two basic choices.

We have a choice to worry about tomorrow

– or –

we can choose to trust God and cast those worries on Jesus.

Craig Groeschel recently wrote a book Winning the War in Your Mind, teaching about those very things. One specific example he gives is an incredibly easy and tangible way to be thinking about what you are thinking. Craig suggests making a God Box. It can be a shoebox, an Amazon box, or any other little box you may have lying around. On the outside of the box write the word God. Any time you have a runaway thought, a worry or a temptation, write it down on a piece of paper and throw it in the God Box.

You might write something like:

I’m afraid there won’t be enough money to cover the bills

I’m worried about my 17 year-old

What if our business fails?

I’m afraid of what may happen to my children when I am not around

I’m worried about my health, what if I never get better?

Will there be enough food for all?

Will my friend ever forgive me?

When you write each of these worries on a piece of paper and put it in the God Box, you could say:

God, I know you’re bigger than all these problems and I will trust you with them. I can do nothing to fix anything, and so I give them all to you. I don’t want to expend my mental real estate focusing on all these issues I cannot change, so I give them to you.

Once you pray and give it to God, go on with your life.

But if you decide you want to worry about something you’ve already put in the God box, open it up take out that slip of paper and say to God,

I don’t trust you any more with this item so I’m going to worry some more about it.

You may think that sounds like a rude thing to say to God, but in effect that’s what we’re saying when we fill our mind with worry. The apostle Peter tells us to cast all our cares upon God for He cares for you. Our thoughts seek to betray us, and doubts pop into our mind, but we have a choice whether we will worry about stuff, or live a life of trust and dependence on God.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we will receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Simplicity

October 30, 2023 / Shari Baar / 3 Comments

A friend and I have been reading the fascinating biography of Moses lately and it is quite amazing. We are at the end of his life, as he is handing the mantle to Joshua. Joshua has been Moses’ right-hand man for decades, so it wasn’t completely unexpected, but let’s face it – it’s a huge job to take over the leadership of more than a million people in the middle of a desert.

What I found amazing was the simplicity of the instructions God gave to Joshua as he was getting ready to cross the Jordan River along with the Israelis.

Don’t ’be afraid

Trust Me

Be strong and courageous

Listen and obey

Meditate on My words

I’ll be with you

There were many unknowns for Joshua, just like there are many unknowns in our futures, yet these are the most important instructions God gave him. It got me wondering if they would be the best instructions for us as we live in a world thousands of years later, also full of uncertainty.

They are simple and concise, easy to remember, but it may be a bit more difficult when distractions come into focus. One of my friends has the simplest of all instructions when crushing anxiety shows up:

Trust God and breathe.

There is much in our world to become stressed about, but one thing is sure – worrying about it won’t change a thing. We certainly can complain, grumble and be troubled about many details of life, but what will change? Absolutely nothing.

My all-time favorite quote is from Mr Rogers:

Life is deep and simple,

But our society has made it shallow and complicated.

Have you ever heard the acronym ROI? Yeah, me neither, but I recently learned it means: Return on your investments. If you invest minutes and hours worrying about everything in your life, you will certainly receive a return on that – mainly continued anxiety, panic attacks and perhaps ulcers.

But if you invest minutes, hours and days meditating on the goodness of God and His direction to:

Be strong and courageous

Not be afraid

Meditate on My love for you….

Remember, remember, remember that God is for you and will take care of you,

…then the (ROI) return on your investment will be peace and joy, all which comes from Holy Spirit.

I’d much rather have peace than anxiety, how about you?

Jesus, I give everyone and everything to You

Girl, Tell Your Story

October 11, 2022 / Shari Baar / 0 Comments

Dear Daughters,

Last week I received a book in the mail written by an author living in Walla Walla, Washington (such a delightful name for a city). Brooke Thonney has a story which at different times made me laugh, cry and sometimes shudder. Growing up near Los Angeles, Brooke was raised in a family of domestic abuse, addiction, adultery and divorce. Before she was old enough to know what drugs and alcohol were, she knew their smell and effects on her mom and dad. When she was three her parents divorced, throwing her life into further chaos, dysfunction and confusion.

As in many stories of children coming from such homes, they in turn grow up living the same behavior patterns as their parents before them. When Brooke was in high school, she came home one day to see her mom sitting on the curb in handcuffs and later taken to jail. She was sent to live with her dad and his girlfriend, all three of them soon evicted from their home. Brooke started living the same lifestyle she had seen in her family of origin and by 19 she was a single mom and a college dropout.

But the story doesn’t get worse from there, it gets better. Brooke has a praying grandmother, who had been sexually abused by her own father for years, her voice silenced for a time because of threats and lies from him. Virginia, her grandmother, led Brooke to Christ and told her that she had determined not to let her dad destroy the rest of her life, and that Brooke had the same choice going forward.

For years Brooke had been silenced by her parents, her friends, her fiancée, her Youth Pastor, and many others who figured her background was too broken to be transformed into anything good. The enemy constantly fed her lies as well. Because of all the betrayal and slander flung her way, she began to distrust people as well as God Himself. In her mind the lies and questions of doubts were relentless,

Can God really be trusted?

Did He really speak those words of love and affirmation….to me?

Does He even care about me and all my problems?

Why would God let people do such hurtful things to me?

I am Irredeemable.

I am worthless.

I am rejected.

I am silenced.

Then Brooke started listening to God’s voice instead of voices from her past.

Where Brooke saw trash, God saw treasure.

Where Brooke saw junk, God saw jewels.

Where Brooke saw brokenness, God saw freedom from bondage.

When she decided to listen to God’s promises of truth, her life started changing:

God uses the brokenness of our lives to prepare us for what He has called us to do

and to reveal our destiny.

We were designed and created to use our voices in a dark world

to bring life to everything and everyone around us.

Because of her past abuse, Brooke was hyper-vigilant in protecting her daughters from the same abuse she had received as a child. Then one night she had a vision…

I saw myself standing in a dark, hostile wilderness. In one hand I was gripping a machete and with the other I was holding back Ellie and my second daughter Claire to protect them from whatever lay ahead. I saw myself slashing right and left with the machete, lashing out at everything around me. I couldn’t see anything in front of me because of the darkness, and I was desperate to protect my kids from whatever was out there. I was breathing hard, drenched by sweat and blinded by rain and deep darkness. I was inching forward, one step at a time, machete at the ready to protect us. I had no path, no plan, no directions to follow. I was in survival mode with my girls and would fight anything to keep us safe. Then the vision ended…

In an amazing transformation, Brooke learned to allow God to be her protector and defender instead of fighting the never-ending battle herself. It was a process, but she has come to trust her Heavenly Father to care for her most treasured possessions – her husband Andrew and their four daughters.

Brooke’s grandma continued to encourage her to tell her story of ashes being exchanged for beauty. I’m thankful she is using her voice after being silenced for so many years – not only for her sake, but giving hope to many others who have walked a similar tormented path as she.

Love, Mom

A Lesson from the Ants

September 27, 2022 / Shari Baar / 0 Comments

Dear Daughters,

Have you ever seen an ant hill and watched all the busy little ants walking around, each of them carrying at least one grain of sand? Now be sure that I am not an ant lover – oh no. I think they are industrious and amazing, but I do not like them, especially in my house.

I remember many decades ago, Uncle Steve somehow fell into a red ant pile, and his back was a mess of ant bites. These were not the innocuous little black ants but big red fire ants. His back was swollen and red for several days, so since then I have been careful to stay away from ant hills.

Surprisingly, the Bible has an interesting section on learning from the ants:

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.

Learn from their ways and become wise!

Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,

They labor hard all summer,

Gathering their food for the winter.

Proverbs 6:6-7(NLT)

King Solomon, who probably wrote these words, was famous for asking God for wisdom. He had many good workers in his kingdom but probably a few lazybones as well. He also knew the story of the Israelites wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years, many of them being complaining lazybones. They had been slaves all their lives and didn’t know how to walk in freedom – which brings us to the next Wilderness Mentality Joyce Meyer has discovered from studying the book of Exodus:

Wilderness Mentality #2

Someone do it for me; I don’t want to take the responsibility

I’m sure you know people like this, and sometimes I even find myself desiring others to take the responsibility and do the difficult things for me. Let’s face it, life is hard. It’s hard to be responsible and go to work every day, loving people who are not lovable, keeping on keeping on. It takes effort to plan ahead, store food for the winter, and care for your family.

But back to the tiny ants, did you know that an ant can lift something 50 times its weight? That’s like me lifting one hippopotamus or seven cows, which is pretty crazy. But these little creatures are busy and dedicated to gather their food and store it for the winter. There are no bosses, no commanders or managers. Yet each of them does what they were created to do – build tunnels and store food. They don’t complain or grumble, they just see there is a job to be done and they do it. Yes, it takes work, it takes time and sometimes people like me may unwittingly walk right on top of their hill of hard work, yet they just keep walking, fix up the mess and move on. How I would love to have the attitude of an ant.

If you remember, the trip from Egypt to Canaan was only an 11-day trip, but it took the Israelites 40 years to make that short distance. One reason for that long, wandering journey was their poor attitudes. It amazes me that even though the Israelites saw the 10 plagues before they left Egypt, witnessed the Red Sea split in two so they could walk on dry ground, watched the manna (free food) fall every day – still they became complainers any time a problem came up. You would think they would remember that God had always helped and provided for them in the past, so would learn to thank Him in advance for how He would provide for them again. But no, they moaned and groaned, murmured and complained, wishing they were slaves back in Egypt. Life was just too hard in this land of freedom…

It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Even though we see the faithfulness of God with the sun coming up every day, the beautiful seasons continually appearing each year, our abundance of food, clothing, jobs, and places to live, still we find things to complain about. And often they are so silly and inconsequential – we have to wait in line at the grocery store, hit too many red traffic lights, and have to eat the same thing two days in a row.… I am amazed at how patient God is to put up with our lack of gratitude and trust.

You may remember the verse,

If you bow low in God’s awesome presence,

He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in His hands.

Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there,

for He always tenderly cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (TPT)

God has told us to pour out all our worries and stress on Him, yet he also desires us to be humble enough to be responsible to do the tasks set before us, to take responsibility like the ants do. Each one carries its own load and works together with the other ants. If someone crushes their home, they rebuild and move on. They work humbly and responsibly.

There are many things in life that can be delegated. Personal responsibility, however, is not one of them. You are the only one who can take responsibility for your attitude and I’m the only one who can take responsibility for mine. I’m not saying it’s easy or sometimes even desirable, but the Holy Spirit will give you the strength to be grateful and trusting, and God will bless your obedience. Remember all God has done in the past, His faithfulness, His provision, His care and His love for you. His promises never fail.

Love,

Mom

Slow Down

January 24, 2022 / Shari Baar / 0 Comments

Dear Daughters,

When I was in junior high I loved to play the piano, loud and fast. I hated to play slow songs – they were so boring. Plus, all the kids were impressed when I played fast and loud – spider fingers is what they called me.

Later on in college, Professor Worst would say to me,

Slow down, Shari, your music will have so much more life to it if you just go slower. Breathe.

Years ago, when I walked with my friends I loved to walk fast. We would walk and talk and walk. Then when Grandma came to visit, just she and I would go walking. I would be silently annoyed because she walked slower than I liked, but I would grudgingly adapt to her speed.

When you are in Wyoming and the gas gauge on your car is getting low and there’s not a gas station for another 52 miles, what’s the best thing to do? Slow down so your miles per gallon goes up and maybe, just maybe you can make it to the next town before the tank is empty. It didn’t always work for us, but in theory it should.

In my younger years I wanted to be efficient, multi-task, get the most done in the least amount of time. Isn’t that the way a good Christian woman should be? I wanted to do my best for God, which meant to do it quickly and well. I expected the same from God: He should be efficient, answer my prayers according to my timetable, maybe not quickly, but I really shouldn’t have to wait too long, should I?

And then I got sick and was laid low, on my back, for weeks. I couldn’t walk around the block, much less walk fast around the block. Of course, I was irritated, angry that I didn’t get better quickly.

One day as I was on the couch, lying down and looking up, I read in Isaiah the following words that jumped out from the page:

Woe to those who say, ‘Let God hurry and carry out His plans so that we can see something happening and know that His word is true.’ (5:19)

I was shocked, surprised, and truth be told, hurt, to read that God was in no hurry to answer my prayers of healing or of anything else I desired, in fact there was a ‘woe’ attached to hurry. In the past I had been so busy that I had not listened to his voice that also said,

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Psalm 37:7

A few months ago, I was practicing the song Breathe on the piano and it had some difficult parts in it when I was keeping the same speed throughout. But as I was working out the hard spots, having to go slow, I noticed a beauty I hadn’t heard before. I found that if I took extra time and breathed into the song some times of slowing, stretching the tempo, it came alive and was much more beautiful than simply trying to keep the challenging parts the same speed as the rest of the song. I needed to be reminded again, Slow Down. Especially the hard parts.

Eventually I was able to get up and around again after my extended time on the couch, and now I am still learning to go slow, take time, and

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

I’m assuming that because the phrase, Wait for the Lord, is stated two times in that little short verse, God is really serious about us waiting. So, what are we waiting for? I think waiting sounds a little like trusting in God’s timing, not demanding our own way right now. Our culture has taught us that we deserve immediate gratification – if you want it, you go and get it. But Jesus desires to teach us about delayed gratification, learning to be joyful and expectant and trusting before He brings the answer.

As Ann Voskamp says so often,

Life is not an emergency.

In God’s eyes, relationships are much more important than keeping busy. The rewards that come from listening to your husband’s and children’s hearts, acknowledging their hurts and triumphs will endure much longer than any busyness we may conjure up on our own.

In our marriages we want changes in ourselves, our husband, and in our kids. When we invite God into our hard parts of life, He will bring about change – but never in a hurried way. He will work out every detail, every hurt, every little thing in us and in our families in His time. Trust Him with your life – and slow down.

Love, Mom

A Busy God Box

October 5, 2021 / Shari Baar / 2 Comments

Dear Daughters,

A few weeks ago I wrote about the God Box – the act of physically casting our cares and worries on Jesus. The idea is to get a little box and some small pieces of paper and write the names of the people or things you worry about on each piece. Then one by one, place those worries in the God Box and leave them for Him to take care of. But…if you start worrying about something listed on one of those papers, take it out and tell God you don’t trust Him with that specific person or situation and you will worry about it again – thank you very much. This is Craig Groeschel’s very practical idea from his book Winning the War in Your Mind.

Well, one of my dear friends who tends to worry more than she would like, actually decided to get a box and fill it with her worries. I was so pleased to hear about it, but a few days later she texted some pictures lamenting that it had become a busy God box. She would throw a name in but would soon find herself worrying about the very things and people she had just put in:

What about this?

What about that?

But what happens when…

So the lid came off, the paper came out, and the worrying would start again. But, of course, that action in itself feels a bit silly because then it becomes blatantly obvious that our trust is waning. So, the next step is to put the paper back in the box and give it back to God – where it belongs.

Out of the God Box, into the God Box. Trust again.

Out of the Box, into the Box. Trust some more.

It can get to be rather exhausting putting it in and taking it out, but our Father is so patient with us as we learn to trust over and over.

We have absolutely no control over anyone but ourself, no control over any circumstance which comes our way, but we do have control over how we will respond to whatever happens in our life.

When Jesus walked the earth, He repeatedly reminded us that He cares for the sparrows, the lilies of the field, all the creatures of the world. If He cares for the grass of the field, which is here today and gone tomorrow, will He not care for you who is so much more important than the grass of the field or the birds of the air? So why not cast your cares on Him? Why not write down what keeps us awake at night, what consumes our thoughts with anxiety from the minute we wake up in the morning – and place it in the God Box?

We were not created to carry the heavy yoke the world places on us or that we place on ourselves. Only our Creator God is able to carry it all.

As Erma Bombeck says:

Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.

Sometimes it seems that our slips of paper in the God Box are turning yellow with age, but just when we think all is lost and God has forgotten us, the answer will come. And never a moment too soon – or too late. It may not be the answer we want, but it will inevitably be something greater than what we can imagine. Plus an added bonus – we will be able to live in peace.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever, AMEN.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Love, Mom

The Holy But

January 8, 2020 / Shari Baar / 2 Comments

Dear Daughters,

Once again Christmas is past, New Years has been celebrated and here we are in a new decade, with emotions ranging from anticipation to anxiety, fear to hope, wonder to boredom – depending on our circumstances in life. Along with many other folks this time of year, I have made some goals for the year/decade. One of the areas I would like to work on has to do with the words I speak.

Have you ever gotten home from being with someone or a group of people and rewound the conversation in your mind? Do you ever wish you could take back some words you have spoken and replaced them with better, kinder words? Yeah, me too – more often than I like.

I’ve been listening to myself as well as others and have noticed that many people live after the but. That is, the word “but.” If you listen carefully to others (or yourself) you will find out what they really believe after the but. It doesn’t matter what they say first, what they truly believe comes after the but. Someone may say,

I really like Charissa, but she’s kinda gossipy. She didn’t call me when she knew I was having a hard time.

Oh yes, Nathan is so funny, but did you know he had a temper tantrum after he didn’t get the deal he wanted?

Mara is so beautiful, but did you see the look she gave me when I mentioned where I shop?

I really like our pastor, but he never visited my mom when she was sick.

It’s good and healthy to express honest emotions, but most people live in the world after the but. It doesn’t matter what someone says, you’ll find out what they really believe if you listen to what comes after the but. We say things like:

I know God loves me, but I feel so abandoned.

I know God promised to provide for me, but I don’t really have what I need.

I know God promises me wisdom, but all I feel is confusion.

When we talk like that we live only in the present circumstance. The only hope we have is for a change in our feelings or in our current state of affairs. If we trust solely in our emotions or what is happening around us, we can easily fall into despair. Satan doesn’t care about our talking about God as long as we put Him before the but.

Dan Stone writes about something called The Holy But. It’s putting God after the but, where He belongs. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before he was killed, he prayed something like this (a paraphrase of Dan Stone).

Father, I don’t want to be separated from you. If it’s possible please let me out of it. In fact, this is so heavy on me right now that my soul feels very depressed…

…Yet

…nevertheless

…BUT

…not as I will but as You will.

Jesus was emotionally honest, he spoke freely about what he felt, how hard it was, how he was suffering, but he was willing to submit to His Father’s will.

King David, one of the main writers of the Psalms, was painfully honest with God. In Psalm 13 he laments:

How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

Having sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me…. (verses 1-2)

Many of us think these things but would never dare say them out loud. David, however, not only spoke them but wrote them down for people to read thousands of years later. And the interesting thing is God doesn’t mind our honesty. In fact he desires it. But the fascinating part of this prayer of lament is the way David ends the Psalm,

But I trust in your unfailing love,

My heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing the Lord’s praise,

For He has been good to me. (verses 5-6)

That’s an example of the Holy But. Nothing had changed in David’s circumstances, but his perspective changed. It moved him from where he was stuck – in despair and sorrow – and into faith.

Even though your life may look hopeless at this moment, you can choose to remember how God has been faithful throughout your life. And if, as on those categorically hard days, you forget about the good things in your past, you can look to the stories in the Bible about how He always keeps His promises, always brings good out of evil, and promises to never, ever, no not ever abandon us.

Remember the stories of Abraham,

Jacob,

Joseph,

Daniel,

Ruth,

Esther,

Rahab,

and the list goes on….

The Holy But is able to change your situation from concentrating on the external issues in life to the internal – your spirit. You take all those emotions back to the Person dwelling in you and get God into it. Then you can experience peace even in the midst of the storm.

All fear is but the notion that God’s love ends ~ Ann Voskamp

Welcome this new year and consider letting God bless you in the days ahead by using the Holy But.

The year ahead looks daunting, but I know You are holding me with Your everlasting arms.

I feel like a loser today, but I know You love me anyway.

The world happenings are causing me fear, but I know You are still the King of the earth, King of me and I trust You.

Lord, life is going by so fast! It frightens me unless I remember your eternity. We are as rootless as tumbleweeds and will be blown about all our lives unless You are our dwelling place. In You we are home. What I have in You I can never lose and will have forever. I praise You for this unfathomable comfort. Amen. ~ Tim Keller

Love, Mom

…I Shall Not Want

April 28, 2019 / Shari Baar / 0 Comments

Dear Daughters,

I shall not want.

Do you ever have days when you are content, at peace, all is well, and the world is as you think it should be?

Or are more of your days filled with disappointment, frustration, wishing life would be peaceful and simple?

Three thousand years ago King David wrote The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want. It seems that if the first part of that sentence is accurate, then the second part would become true as well. I have recited those words hundreds of time, they are in the hard drive of my mind. But how often do I actually experience them?

I have many days when I do not want anything more than what I already have, especially when I read about refugees in Syria and Iraq, living for years in tent camps, waiting, always waiting for a day when they can return home. When I think about persecuted people around the world I tend to ask, Why do I have life so easy?

Then there are other times when I get focused on my wants, my desires, my hopes and dreams that have been dashed and mostly forgotten.

Because I have spent many more hours in bed than what I would have chosen during the past two months, I have been reading more. I started rereading The Lord of the Rings, and I love being caught up in the adventures of Frodo and Sam, Gandalf, the dwarves, elves, the ring-wraiths, the armies of orcs, Saruman, and various other characters of good and evil. I became immersed with their lives fraught with so much danger and uncertainty, struggles and battles, yet always faithfully walking forward toward their goal of delivering the Ring to where it belongs.

Sometimes the Fellowship of the Ring have plenty to eat, other days they tighten their belts and move on. Many days they walk near a sparkling stream, but they have intervals when they have to carry more pounds as they must pack canteens.

Yet they journey on because they have an important job to do. Yes, they occasionally have reprieves from their hardships as when they come to the Elves peaceful abode. Those are simply gifts given at a time when they absolutely need time to rest, to be restored in order to carry on with their assignment.

We are all on this journey called life. There are days, maybe weeks, when we are content – and then something happens that disturbs and annoys. An unexpected phone call or an unkind remark takes us down. Then what?

In order to truly say The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want, we need to be convinced about the character of our Shepherd. If we honestly believe Jesus is gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love and living inside us, then we can rest in peace, knowing He is doing all things well. We will struggle at times, just like Frodo and his fellowship, yet our Shepherd is always faithful and will continue to guide and walk with us on the journey.

But sometimes life circumstances shout louder than God’s voice.

A few weeks ago I was not at all content. I wanted health, I wanted energy and healing from a virus that knocked me flat for over a month. There were days I wondered if I’d ever be able to stay out of bed for more than a half hour at a time without wilting in fatigue. For a few days I began to doubt that God cared about me, I felt like I had been abandoned…again.

Over the years I have had skirmishes with such thoughts, but was hoping those days were gone. When our bodies don’t run properly it is easy to let our minds follow and believe our emotions over the facts we know are true.

One day during this dark time I received a package in the mail from my friend Ruth. In it was a picture she had painted, the stump of a tree with a green shoot growing out of it. I saw it and cried. It’s amazing how that one piece of art gave me hope again. I felt as though I was that cut off stump, yet with a little life still growing slowly but surely.

I had not been forgotten, God had been by my side the whole time. I had simply succumbed to self-pity and hopelessness instead of looking at the truth of who He is.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

If those words are true, then I shall not want – not ever. I love how Lysa TerKeurst puts it:

Your job is to be obedient to Me. My job is everything else.

All Jesus asks is that we trust Him. We don’t have to figure everything out, try to control those around us or work to manipulate our circumstances. He is good, His love endures forever, He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. And that is the Truth.

Now that I am climbing out of yet another dark pit of illness, I have been reminded once again to always trust and not despair.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,

I shall not want,

I shall not want.

Let that be my mantra, even in the dark.

Love, Mom

Tag: Trust (Page 1 of 2)

Anxiety and the O.T.

Trust Me

God Box

Simplicity

Girl, Tell Your Story

A Lesson from the Ants

Slow Down

A Busy God Box

The Holy But

…I Shall Not Want

Archives

Recent Posts

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Stories and Songs

Meta

Archives

Categories