“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
It started with a gift…
A week ago my husband Kurt and I took a small airplane ride over Seattle. I was more than a little fearful. The adventure was not something I would have signed up for on my own, but it was a gift from my son and his family. I felt like I needed to go. But I was more than a little fearful.
I’m a white-knuckle flyer. The smallest bump or bounce and I’m grabbing the armrest. If the pilot asks us to return to our seats, I’m pulling my seatbelt tight.
And I don’t do small planes. At least that’s what I thought.
Our gift was a 30-minute flight over the sites of Puget Sound. On a bright sunny morning, our seaplane left from a dock on Lake Union, following the ship canal over to Lake Washington. We circled north before coming back south, the entire city ahead of us. Beneath us were ferry boats, sail boats, even canoes and fishing boats. It was absolutely stunning.
I smiled knowing my son’s perfect gift was not something I thought would be so perfect. My son’s perfect gift forced me to set aside my fear and “just do it.”
Which made me think about God’s gifts…
I think of the times God has done the same.
So often I’ve been given the gift of opportunity, gifts I haven’t asked for, didn’t think I wanted or needed, would not have signed up for on my own.
In college I got a teaching degree. I expected to have a career in a Special Education classroom. But after four years, I knew I needed to make a change, so I became a political wonk for the Washington Education Association.
I was terrible. And it didn’t take me four years to know I needed to make another change.
But what to do?
When I interviewed for a position at my aunt and uncle’s brokerage firm, I was certain I was in the wrong place. I made sure they knew that I’d spent a lot of time working with middle schoolers on their basic math facts: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, not higher-level math. Goodness, I could barely balance my checkbook. I also felt it was important to add that I’d gotten a C– in the one economics class taken in college.
They seemed to think I worked well with people; their offer of a job became a gift I felt I had to take. I was without any other options: I was living at home, driving a Plymouth Valiant, watching the balance on my Nordstrom credit card grow exponentially. Yep, and avoiding Mom’s questions about career prospects and Dad’s concerns about my employability.
My new job would be perfect.
But I started in a state of terror, thinking everyone would soon discover their mistake and send me on my way. Each day I had to set aside my fears and “just do it.” Each morning I had to “climb aboard,” pulling my seatbelt tight.
That was forty years ago, at a time when I wasn’t looking for God in the details. Only when I got “airborne” so to speak, was I able to see and appreciate the gift that had been given to me, the gift waiting for me at a desk in Renton.
You’ll often hear me talk about finding God in the details. Yes, I say it often. Left to my own devices, I struggle and fail. I trip and stumble. I hesitate. Too often I lean on my own experiences for the encouragement to go forward. Too often I rely on what I know, what I think, what I want—which often is not aligned with what God wants for me.
Ladies, God cares for us. God wants to carry our anxieties. One of my pastors used to have a cement block at the door to his office. For him, it was a reminder that he didn’t need to carry the “weight” of life’s challenges. He could leave it with God at the door.
When have you gotten an unexpected gift?
Any unexpected gifts that felt a little scary? Gifts that would prove to be perfect?
What unexpected gifts have you gotten from God?
Any that struck fear in your heart at the time? How can you be sure to find God in the details, especially when a particular opportunity might not be what you’re looking for? Didn’t ask for? Didn’t want? How can you be open to God’s possibilities when He presents something “that’s not what you do”?
Heavenly Father, we are so very blessed in so many ways. Help us to find You in the details. Help us to see You in the gifts we’ve been given. And help us to give our anxieties to You. In Your name, we pray. Amen.
Deanna Nowadnick is the author of four books, Fruit of My Spirit, Signs in Life, Bouquet of Wisdom, and a children’s book, “Grandma, You Found Me!”
