“Leave your worries with God . . . or your worries will make you leave God.”- Ann Voskamp
“There are very few men who realize what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into His hands and let themselves be formed by His grace.”- Saint Ignatius
Ann Voskamp writes in Chapter 9 (The Miracle in Your Pocket That Breaks Stress”) of The Broken Way that you “diffuse your own stress by diffusing someone else’s.” Therefore, giving, just in the present moment, renders life less overwhelming.
Consequently, Ms. Voskamp notes, it’s like finding your own pocket miracle. Next, Ann defines and cites examples of pocket miracles:
” . . . a small miracle, a small gift — a note that made a soul stronger, a cup of something warm to soothe someone’s knotted places, a hand to help someone up, open arms just to embrace the overwhelmed and whisper grace.”
In other words, Ann acknowledges, when you abandon yourself to God’s givenness, you abandon a bit of your fears and stress. Every day presents you with choices- busyness, stress, giving yourself up to joy. As Ann emphasizes, choose well, And live in the givenness of the moment.
Writing in The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis once observed:
“For in self-giving, if anywhere, we touch a rhythm not only of all creation, but of all being.”
Therefore, only when we give do we receive what we truly need. As Ann concludes, the bread we give to feed another person’s soul miraculously feeds ours. “Koinonia is always, always the miracle.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses, Christian books, or Christian hymns/songs enable you to leave your worries with God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Fight back the dark with doxology”
