One Day At a Time

To be honest, I wasn’t planning to write about this topic today, but in the spirit of keeping it real, here goes. I’ve had a doozy of a week and it isn’t over yet! I know you’ve had them too, or maybe you’re in the middle of one right now. Let’s think about it.

First let me say that the list of things on my plate may not even compare with the magnitude of what you’re dealing with. Or maybe my list will make you feel better about your life and happy your week has been going great! 

This is what’s been going on here over the past few days: Two doctor appointments during the work day, a household member sick with a virus so I’ve been quarantining and wearing an N95 mask, a trip to the emergency veterinary hospital for my poor doggo’s broken claw accident that took six hours (7pm – 1am because they were so busy), my car suddenly and mysteriously started trying to lock and unlock its doors over and over while flashing the headlights each time…… There’s more, but you get the picture.

When things that need to get done, need to work, or need to happen with urgent timing freak us out, what do we do?

Two days into this week I could see things were cumulatively getting to me. When I looked at them all at once, I was overwhelmed by “what ifs.” What if I missed my doctors’ appointments (I made it to both)! What if I got sick (so far so good)! What if the vet bill was super high (it wasn’t fun to pay, but doable)! What if my car battery went dead overnight (it didn’t – and the cause may simply be the battery needing to be replaced in my key fob)!

When I felt those anxious thoughts and emotions rising up, like we all do, I told myself to just take one day at a time. Sometimes it was one hour at a time. There have even been times in my life when all I could do was only one minute at a time. Can you relate?

It’s in times like these that as believers, we can pray to God for His help and remind ourselves of real promises from the Bible that give us a higher perspective:

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.”  Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT)

Here’s what King David wrote in Psalm 28:7

“The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.”

At the doctor’s appointment I had this morning, I actually got to see my own heart beating for the first time. I saw the tiny valves that have probably opened and closed a million times since I was born. Seeing the miracle of it happening within my own body made me cry. It reminded me of how it’s God who gave me life then and gives me life now. Right now. If He can do all of that, He is surely able to help you and I through whatever happens in the life He’s giving us today.

RESET HIGHER: 1 Peter 5: 7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” It doesn’t say “some of” your cares or “all except that one.” It says all. Give God your challenges and ask for His help, one day at a time.