Fragrance of His Presence
Theme of the Week: Give God Your Fears
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
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Key Bible Verse: Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you (1 Peter 5:7). Bonus Reading:Psalm 56:4, 9-11
On an early March morning, I walked through the residential neighborhood around the Portland, Oregon, hospital. The river scents of the nearby Willamette mingled with the fragrance of daffodils. I was afraid. As afraid as I'd ever been in my life. My pregnant wife was in the maternity ward bleeding and having premature contractions. The baby, our first, was in distress. If the doctors couldn't stop the labor, he might not make it.
I'd been in that hospital room with Laura a long time, listening to the fetal monitor, catching my breath every time it missed a beat. Screams and moans from women in labor echoed down the hallway. My nerves were toast. I had to go for a walk.
I walked mostly by feel, my eyes squinted in prayer. I cried out to the Lord and wept. I felt crushed inside in a way I never had before. There was nothing good about that fearful situation. And yet … it was good to seek refuge in God, to cry out to Him, to fall into His arms.
When I look back on that morning (our healthy son is now 21), the pain and fear are somehow infused in my memory with the delicate aroma of daffodils and the nearness of God.
—Larry Libby in Discipleship
My Response: A time when I turned to God to find refuge was …
Thought to Apply: Anxiety has its use, stimulating us to seek with keener longing for that security where peace is complete and unassailable.
—Augustine of Hippo (church leader)
Adapted from Discipleship Journal (7-8/02) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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Dear Father, teach me to hand off my worries to You, realizing that I'm secure in Your care.
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