Are You Prepared?

I must admit that I experience some anxiety whenever we prepare for a trip. My dad always espoused the motto "A good boyscout is always prepared" which generally meant you should be prepared for anything. Now that he is an octogenarian (80 years old) he realizes how many eventualities you need to be prepared for, so he carries a large back pack with him most of the time. Our oldest daughter has adopted the same philosophy which makes her an excellent aerospace engineer, but she still has to learn to pack lighter to become an astronaut.

But as we prepared to fly to Denver for our family Christmas celebration, my anxiety levels soared. Do I have all the presents? Will our luggage get lost so that we have no gifts? Is the suitcase too heavy? Will the TSA confiscate any of my belongings? Will we set off the security alarms at the airport? Will we be frisked? How cold will it be? How many layers of clothes will I need to stay warm? Will there be snow? (For a comic note: we had no snow in Denver for Christmas, but our Tennessee home enjoyed a rare white Christmas!)

I frequently had to stop and make myself breath and offer many prayers for protection. I also rehearsed many of the promises of God that reminded me that He is all I really need. When I quiet my troubled emotions I can hear His voice reminding me of all that is necessary, whether it is the promise of His protection, or even the reminder that He wanted me to share this possession with that person. Even when I am not prepared, He is prepared to handle me to accomplish His purpose in my life.

Unfortunately, when we consider God’s job in our lives, we think we are merely saved from hell and destined for heaven. But God has provided so much more for us. The salvation Christ offers is not merely for escape from hell, or membership in heaven. Rather, it is an invitation to a relationship with the living God! Through His great and precious promises He enables us to experience abundant life now and an eternal inheritance beyond comprehension.

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
     and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
     for those who love him."

But it we to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit. And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. —1 Cor. 2:9–12 (NLT)

Are you prepared to enjoy the wonderful things God has freely given you, or are you still trying to accomplish it all by yourself so that you continuously find yourself consumed by stressful emotions?