When You’re Coming Apart at the Seams

The Greek word for anxiety is merimna. HELPS Word-studies describes it this way, a part separated from the whole; (figuratively) worry (anxiety), dividing and fracturing a person’s being into parts. Perhaps you’ve experienced the sensation of becoming emotionally disintegrated. There are times when the pressures of life make you feel like you are coming apart at the seams. What do you do?

My daughter gave birth to twins two weeks ago. Because they were premature, they had to stay in the NICU. Abigail was able to come home, but because she developed postpartum preeclampsia we ended up making two emergency trips to the hospital. The last time we went they did a CT scan to check and see if there was any bleeding in her brain. When I wasn’t with her in the hospital I was helping to take care of her two special needs little boys. The twins are home, my daughter is doing well, and the little boys are thrilled with their tiny baby sisters. However, there can still be opportunities to feel anxious.

When we exhaust our store of endurance we are invited to cast our cares on a God who cares about us. When our strength fails God invites us to enter into His rest. There is a name for this exchange. It is called humility. True humility happens when we are fully dependent on the Lord. “Humble  yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6,7).

When I feel like I'm falling apart I remind myself that I have an invitation to find refuge in the shelter of the Most High God. When I am overwhelmed I find my resting place in the shadow of the Almighty. When I finally stop trying to be in control I find peace for my soul. I cast my anxiety on Him and find that He has covered me with His feathers and that refuge is found under His wings. Fear cannot follow me into this place of humble trust.

The stresses of this life expose our frailty. How we respond to those stresses exposes what we believe. However, when we respond with humility and choose to fully trust God we find that He is worthy of our trust. “We may trust Him fully, all for us to do, They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.”

*Like A River Glorious 

At the Golden Altar

There is a place where the divine world and the human world come together. It is a place of exchange and communication. I have been invited to come to this place with boldness, and so I come. I come boldly, but I also come aware of my weakness and my need. With a humble but hopeful heart I approach the golden altar that stands before the throne of God.

Altars represent places of sacrifice. What is it that I bring to this sacred place? I bring my need, my brokenness and my confusion. My heart full of concern for those I love, my mind flooded with circumstances over which I have no control. These are the sacrifices I bring on bended knee but with a heart lifted to the Sovereign who is seated on the throne.

There are times when the sacrifices that my heart bears are so heavy that tears replace words. But in this sacred place I encounter Love that can translate my inarticulate plea. I find someone who advocates for me before the throne of grace. Here, at the golden altar, the cry of my heart is transformed into incense that is pleasing to God.

At the golden altar the darkness within me is bathed with light. It is here that grief is replaced with comfort, and fear and helplessness with His presence and peace. The welcome that I find does not cease, because access has been gained for me by the blood of the Lamb who stands before the throne.

This golden altar is a place of exchange and communication; not only a place where I am heard and known, but a place where I come to listen. It is here that I find that the Almighty God who is seated on the throne is One who wants and waits to be known. You cannot come into the presence of this holy One and stay the same. My plea and my prayers go up from this altar as a pleasing fragrance, and in exchange I receive mercy and grace to help me in my time of need.

Where Is Your Focus?

It’s hard not to be constantly checking the news. There is so much going on. However, if your only perspective is what you hear, and it really doesn’t matter which news group you listen to, you’re bound to feel anxious. I have found a cure. It is a change of focus.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared do you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundation of the earth? God is enthroned above the circle of the earth...” (Isaiah 40:21,22) When our mind is focused only on the things happening around us we become unbalanced. We become like people who are tossed about by the waves of an angry sea.

The chapter in Isaiah that begins with the words, “Comfort, comfort My people,” asked the question for a second time. “Do you not know? Have you not heard” (Isaiah 40:28)? What was it that they should have known? What was it that they should have heard? “Yahweh is the everlasting God, the creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31).

When our view of God becomes limited we begin to see ourselves as victims of chance. When we cease to know that God is almighty and that the Lord God comes with strength, and that His power establishes His rule we lose sight of truth. When our view of God is small our souls shrink and we become fearful. To have a proper view of God is to have a proper context in which to place all that is happening around us.

*“We become like the things we focus on. If we center on man rather than God, then we ought not be surprised in we finish up off center—eccentric.”

*Selwyn Hughes