©Laurie Pace Graphics One Design 2024
Gathering Run
Oil on Canvas SOLD by Laurie Pace
Such a beautiful day! Did not eat the best diet today and I probably gained 5 pounds... but tomorrow I will be prepared! HAHA... not. New Bible Study with food included!!!! I might mention a large yogurt covered pretzel, and half of a taco rolled with egg inside. (I do not eat eggs... still it was hopeless. Lets change the subject.)
The Gathering Run Horse Painting is a favorite with that LUSH LUSH orange and yellow in the center left and right, with pulls that resemble highways on a map. Can you see the horses? I think we have four in here. mmm... maybe five here. Just spotted another one. Wish I knew or remembered! Do you like these?
Any idea why we worry so much? Why did I ask, Do you like these horses? I must go way way back in my life as a worrier. As a mom, I believe it arrived when the Kids arrived... but I know it was there way before. As a really young child, I worried I would do wrong and be punished by doing wrong. Turned me into a people pleaser. That is not good either. Being a GOD pleaser is good. Letting GOD lead your life is good and we all need to stop worrying.
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
What do you worry about these days? My budget is over straining with the rising costs of everything. We barely have a house note and of course home taxes... so the rest is utilities - (YEP they are increasing each month), groceries and repairs on the house. I do not know how Americans are making it with families.
I know that everyone worries about something. Some of us even have built in anxiety. All of this is hard to let go of despite the words from God not to worry. God created us as we are, and that includes our emotions. Some people are more emotional than others. How should we be using these emotions? Some folks are easily angered or easily reactive to anxiety. Worry is the process we use as we try to find our way through different emotions and situations. It starts early in life and seems to grow and fill us with more dread or more worry. We are not suppose to worry.
I believe it to be possible to not only reduce our worry, but eliminate it from our lives through God's promises to us. There are incredible blogs and studies that cover both God's promises to us as well as Jesus' time on earth dealing with heavy situations pulling in every direction and all very stressful. You can read in the verses above. It is important for us to understand and accept the spiritual significance of anxiety or worry. I know from experience it affects our physical health and our mental health. Did you think how it also affects your spiritual health?
Look again: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?..........Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Well, can you?
I recently realized if I was worrying and trying to control a situation, I was doubting God's ability to provide for me or for the people I loved in a bad situation. That is ignoring Him and that breaks my heart. The more we try to control things, including our own destiny, the further we are from God and the further we are from our true destiny. You might think of it this way... you really are prideful trying to do God's job better than He can do it... because you cannot.
Trust in Him.
I learned early to also trust in my grandmother's wisdom because it was actually God's teachings. I was blessed to have a faith filled family. My grandmother taught me at age 11 that happiness is found in doing for others. You cannot find it, it will find you. It would make sense that if we are living in fear or worry, we need to redirect this energy in actually physically helping someone that needs the help in their life. We might be God's answer to them and at the same time, discovering freedom from our own anxiety and worry. You are replacing it with a gift of giving to others of your time and help.
In Sunday night's service at church, Pastor Jonathan was introducing 1 Peter as our new evening study. He covered the Apostles and the general look at the Gospels and it seems like if we take our eyes off of God, diverted by anxiety and worry, we are no longer pursuing the purpose God has in His plan for us. We have to remember we are not of this world. We are of God and we are passing through this world. We are to be serving others and helping others. God will take care of us.
With all of the challenges we may face, we must rest in His promise to fight for us and care for us. He is there through the deep waters. He is there when we are lost. We need to learn to be still. Be still and focused on Him. Wait upon the Lord.
Follow the Spirit of the Paint... with Laurie Pace
Laurie Pace - A Texas Artist
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
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