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How to Stop Worrying and Start Trusting God: 8 Ways
Wolf Creek swells with freeze-up. Spilling its saffron onto the bleach-white bank like an unwanted stain on a clean tablecloth, I wonder how far the water will rise before the ice has done its work. I decide not to worry about the way this valley will soon change. Meanwhile, the scene leads me to think about how to stop worrying and start trusting God in the other realms of my life. I want to trust him with our kids as they navigate the challenges of life. I want to trust him with our future as we step slowly into change. As I walk along the riverbank, I talk to God. …
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10 Bible Verses to Calm Anxiety and Fear
The sky glows roseate as the sun ascends silently, and I gaze out the window. Instead of embracing the moment, I realize that my chest feels tight with some unidentified source of anxiety. “Lord, show me what I need to know,” I whisper. Opening my Bible, I begin listing them in my journal: Bible verses to calm anxiety and fear. 10 Bible Verses to Calm Anxiety and Fear As I soak in the words, my mind quiets. The inner chaos settles. God’s presence slowly begins to fill me with peace. If you could use more peace today, I invite you to join me as we soak in these verses to…
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10 Tension-Easing Bible Verses for Stress at Work
The creek writes its story in splashes of emerald and sandstone brown. I sit beside its clear waters with a heavy heart. The year is 2003, and I’ve just started my teaching career. Much to my frustration, the demands of the job are quickly shattering my dreamy ideals. I pull out my Bible as I sit in the forest, opening it with hopes of finding a few Bible verses for stress at work. Regardless of where we work, most of us face workplace stress. When these times come, God’s Truth can lift our heads and help us press forward. The verses I’m sharing today carried me through my first year…
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Leave It to God: 4 Ways to Cast Your Cares on Him
The wheat field bends low in waves of ragged green as an evening storm blows in. Like velvet brushed by an unseen hand, the monochrome swath is broken. “Leave it to God,” I whisper as I stroll down our country road. Meanwhile, the same ethereal hand seems to sweep my cares away with the wind. I come to cast my cares on the Lord out here beneath these open skies as often as possible. Sometimes, I list my worries one by one. At other times, I imagine opening my heart and letting the One who sees every part of me wash away the concerns that are weighing too heavily. I…
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An Advent Devotional for Less Stress and Deeper Peace
After years of writing, I finally decided to release an online Advent devotional this year! I pray these readings help you slow down, cultivate wonder, and connect with the Lord. I’m releasing it a few weeks before Advent begins so that you can have it on hand and start reading in December. Here’s a glimpse into this new online devotional. I pray it blesses you deeply. Still My Soul: An Advent Devotional for Deeper Peace I sit with the dawn and let my thoughts gather. The grey morning light lifts her sleepy head, and the thin air is embroidered with a crimson cardinal’s song. My mind is scattered, and I…
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A Calming Prayer for Anxiety, Worry, and Fear
The hollow growl of a thunderstorm awakens me well past midnight. I turn to look out the open window and watch the skyline flicker white. Four sleepless hours later, I lie on my back and utter a calming prayer with the hopes of quieting the noise inside my head . . . A Calming Prayer for Anxiety, Worry, and Fear My calming prayer goes like this: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.” The prayer is from Isaiah 26:3. It’s a promise for peace to cover us as we place our trust in God and keep our thoughts fixed…
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How to Declutter Your Mind With God’s Help
Last night I took a walk beneath a canopy of beech trees as patches of fog hovered over the creek beside me. I’d spent the week keeping up with the kids and trying to stay on top of a full schedule. Desperate to sort through my thoughts and declutter my mind, the forest called me. Sometimes, it’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to sorting through our mental chaos. I go outside when my mind feels cluttered. As I watch the sun sink beneath the hills or listen to the sound of red squirrels gnawing on walnuts, my mind clears. Nature offers space to sort through my…
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Submitting Your Emotions to God: 3 Steps to Help You
I spent most of my life believing that my emotions needed to be controlled and surpressed. Not recognizing the biblical truth that my emotions were God-given, I often wrestled with the intensity of my feelings. If you can relate, you’re in the right place. Today, I’ll invite you to begin the process of submitting your emotions to God. As we walk through this process, I invite you to join me as I walked through this process myself. Submitting Your Emotions to God Tufts of fog hover beneath an apricot sky as storm clouds roll eastward on the wings of dusk. I sit by the window and focus on breathing slowly.…
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10 Bible Verses to Help With Anxiety and Fear
The amber light of morning finds me through a partially drawn curtain. Within the first moments of the day, my mind returns to a situation that’s been filling me with anxious thoughts. “Not today, fear,” I whisper, and I open my Bible in search of Truth. Instead of meditating on my fears today, I decide to make a list of Bible verses to help with anxiety and fear. 10 Bible Verses to Help With Anxiety and Fear Opening my Bible, I’m reminded that when anxiety and fear come at me, I always have a choice. I can buckle beneath the weight of my paralyzing emotions—giving the enemy a seat at…
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Cast All Your Burdens on God: 4 Practical Ways
Do you want to learn to cast all your burdens on the Lord? I invite you to join me in the woods, and we’ll talk about practical ways to cast our cares on Jesus. Cast All Your Burdens on God: 4 Insights The forest is silent this morning. Shrouded in a fresh cloak of frozen ivory, every fallen log and standing hemlock dozes beneath the weight of winter’s breath. Suddenly, a rustle behind me catches my attention. I turn, startled, expecting a deer or coyote. The forest sleeps. I hear it again and realize the noise is coming from somewhere closer than I first realized. Looking at the ground just…
