I have thought about this Girl Talk post hundreds of times since it came out a year ago. I finally found it in the archives. The reason I think about it is because it comes up so much, in my life and in those around me. We worry about and fear things that aren't even realities. Especially us women, if we are honest. Our minds are spinning over the what-ifs - big ones and small ones. Examples in my life right now: miscarriage, difficult labor, deaths of loved ones, etc. Or, on a more day-to-day basis, maybe I wonder if a parent (of a 5th grader) is mad at me, when I don't even know if that's true.
The phrase that literally LEAPED out of me from this old post was that there is NO grace for our imaginations.
Here's a snippet, so you can see what I mean...
We would do well to heed Elisabeth Elliot’s wise reminder that there is no grace for our imaginations. None. It’s simply not available. God is not waiting in the wings to help us through whatever horrible imaginary trouble we can conjure up today. But His goodness is stored up and will be abundantly poured out whenever we walk through a real trial.
Read the whole post here.
Just like the Girl Talkers, I have found this very helpfully personally and in ministering to others. When friends come to you with burdens about the "what-ifs" try to point them to the fact that there's not grace for our imaginations, but whatever REALLY happens, God will be gracious and near.
This is a good truth to preach to yourself.
After all,
Proverbs 31:25 (English Standard Version)
25(A) Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
4 comments:
thanks jamie! love you!
Terrific! I've never thought of it that way.
Thanks for posting this, Jamie. That GirlTalk post is one of my all-time favorites, and I think about it all the time. I was actually thinking the other day that I needed to look it up and copy it onto a Word doc...so thanks for doing the grunt work for me!
Love it Jamie! Thanks for sharing. I was just reading about swine flu and this is a perfect reminder. I must say that my husband is so good at this--he is so great at keeping things in perspective and I seem to think sooo much about what other people may be possibly thinking, etc... My prayer is that I would learn to laugh at the days to come! It's hard to have JOY when you are (when I am) imagining things to worry about.
Thanks again. How are you feeling?
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