“What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe a secure from all alarm. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms!”
I will admit, worry is always a struggle for me. It follows me around like a shadow, step-by-step sometimes, until I give God control of my fears. The problem is, once I give Him my fears, I’m bad about keeping a string around them, one I can yank back towards me whenever I want to.
In the times that we are in right now, I have found that God’s Word, communication with Him, and singing praises to Him are what light up the shadows of my fears the most and chase them back into the darkness.
Just this morning, my daily devotion came from Psalm 46:1. “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is found in times of trouble.”
Yesterday, during my prayer time, I was drawn to the sound of the birds singing, and I felt like the Lord was saying to me, They’re not worried. They’re praising the Creator. You are worth more than the birds. Why do you worry?
And this weekend, at a women’s retreat with ladies from my church, we sang the old hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”
The words have come back to me time and time again. If I’m truly leaning on Him, I am safe and secure from any kind of alarm. What kind of things do I have to dread? Why do I insist on carrying burdens that weren’t made for me to bear?
His arms are strong enough to carry the world when our strength is gone. His arms are steady enough to hold us when things that we thought were un-breakable crumble at our feet. His hands are gentle enough to calm us when the suffering around us threatens to shake our very souls.
He is enough.
He has always been enough.
He always will be enough.
I heard the verse this weekend, over and over, “Be still and know that I am God.” I have always cherished that verse and clung to it, and this morning, while reading Psalm 46:1, I continued on and found that my “Be still” verse was in the same chapter of Psalms, in verse 10. I heard the Lord loud and clear.
I will give Him my worry and lean a little closer to Him and be still. Once we are so still, and listening carefully, we can hear His heartbeat, which always beats for His children, calling us to come and cast our cares away.
What a different time we are living in today, but what a special time we are living in. We have been granted this moment to be still, and lean on the One who cares for us more than anything else in this world.
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My Story, My Song 
I have been doing Bible Study every morning and He has reminded me time and time again that He is all I need and to cast my cares onto Him. I also write in a devotion journal along with what I am grateful for. This has really helped me in this time we are in right now. When I feel that worry coming up inside me, I reach for my Bible and prayer journal. The prayer journal is all that I have written down to be praying for and about. It reminds me of others not myself or my fears. Thank you Paige. I always love reading what you write and get a blessing out of it. Love you friend.
I struggle with anxiety also. My daughter finally commented this am that she feels I focus on the worst things that can happen and let it “get to me”. I am wearing out over it all. I am a nurse, but not at the bedside. However, I can’t work from home in my job either. So of course husband and I are planning and discussing because that is the nature of what we do (he also works at the same place I do as a biomedical tech, so he works on equipment. Also not a stay at home job.) Our hospital is in an area not yet hit, but we are involved in trying to plan for when it does. So in a constant state of alert. I am just struggling with getting things done before going back i for a 3 day stretch of 12 hour shifts and wondering what roadblocks or obstacles I will be dealing with next.