Casting away

"Remember to cast ALL of your cares and burdens on Him, as He is able to carry the load for you. "

My husband sent me these words recently when he was gone on a five day business trip. I knew immediately that he was referring to from Psalm 55:22. It says,

"Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."

But in the weary moment when I read the email I thought to myself, "How?" How do I do that? Just cast them away...? But I have to make decisions...BIG ones. I have to do things...MANY things. I have to discipline children...DAILY. I have to find energy from sleepless nights...ALONE. Why does the Bible make it sound so easy? Why doesn't it go into further detail? "

Here's another reference from I Peter 5:6-7:

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

This verse paints a better picture for me when it precedes the "casting" with "humble yourselves under God's mighty hand". Maybe "casting my cares before him" really is just that simple.

First, I remember just how mighty He is. I meditate on what He has done for me, a sinner, by sending His son to achieve perfection and defeat death so that I can spend eternity enjoying something I do not deserve. I look at the world He has made and remember His power and strength and majesty. I read His Word. These actions will automatically lead to humility. He is big, I am small. I need Him desperately. I can not make it alone in this big world. I love and adore Him. I trust Him to create beauty from the ashes in my life because that is what He does.

Second, I take every concern that I have- burdens, decisions, responsibilities, sins- and I verbally surrender them to my Savior. I ask for His guidance. I wait. If I have to move forward with decisions I ask for His leading and move forward. I trust that He will not, has not, is not going to leave me. I trust Him to do what He wills- which is the best thing- in my life and the lives of my family and friends. I talk to Him more. I read His word. I enjoy His others means of grace through my Church body. I enjoy the opportunity to fellowship with Him. I grow closer to Him. I observe how he is working all around me.

Third, He is glorified in my life. I remember who He is and what He has done. The things of earth grow "strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace". I live boldly and thankfully as a result of walking with Him. I find Joy.

Fourth, another crisis comes and I start over with step 1...back at the foot of the cross again.

"Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith but they are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the passion of Christ. "

~C. S. Lewis