Scary Beauty

Last summer our family went for a bike ride at one of our city parks. I had Renae in a toddler bike seat on my bike so the two of us could talk as we rode. We were riding along a river trail that curved into a section lined with trees. The temperature went from hot to refreshingly cool and the brightness turned to shade. The landscape went from wide open to lined with trees. Out of the silence I heard Renae say, "Scary Beauty."

This little girl of four years old touched my heart. She was right. The terrain had turned from a sense of open brightness to a quiet shade that could be described as scary to a little girl and yet she knew it was beautiful.

The Lord has continued to bring this to mind as we often look at our lives and could see our current place in life or look to the future as "scary" and yet if we take our hands off and surrender to God it is really filled with, "beauty."

I have been reminded of Jesus' words in the scripture:

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on...

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

-Luke 12-

God is a capable God. To some it may seem easy to say, "Just trust God and let Him take care of it." While this is the truth, we must have persistence in faith. When we are tempted to be anxious we must pray, "Heavenly Father, help me to rest in you. I place my trust in You." God will answer. God will heal. God will settle your soul and it will become evident He has a firm grip on you.

Where there was once anxiety there will be freedom. Where there was once fear there will be peace.

Resting in God does not mean we will never face the temptation to give in to anxious thoughts rather; we walk through life with the knowledge that when those thoughts come they no longer are allowed to take us captive. We rest in Christ. For it is Christ we live in and no longer ourselves. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Scary becomes Beauty.