Breaking Anxiety's Grip By Michelle BengtsonSample

Day Seven

What If?

Scripture: Psalm 139

When my husband was diagnosed with cancer for the second time, I jumped into a familiar coping pattern: staying busy. I alerted family and friends to the news and answered the plethora of questions with what little sure information we had. I prepared freezer meals for the weeks when doctors’ appointments and chemotherapy treatments would keep us too busy to shop or cook. I rearranged my work schedule to accommodate the myriad new appointments that took priority. 

In my effort to control the uncontrollable, the busyness overwhelmed me and left me exhausted until finally one day I collapsed in a pile on the floor and wept. My mind ran to all the “what-ifs?” that cancer brings. As I desperately cried out to God, I heard His familiar question yet again: “What if . . . you trusted me?” 

What if you believed that this didn’t take Me by surprise? (Psalm 139:16; Matthew 6:8)

What if you believed I really do work all things together for your good? (Romans 8:28)

What if you remembered I know the plans I have for you, and I have declared that My plans for you are good, and they include a future and a hope? (Jeremiah 29:11)

What if you remembered I am good, My ways are good, and My love for you is everlasting? (Jeremiah 31:3)

What if you remembered I proved myself faithful to you when you went through this before, and knowing I am the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, you believed I will be faithful through this as well? (Hebrews 13:8)

What if you stopped listening to the father of lies, who fills your mind with what-ifs, and listened only to the voice of your heavenly Father, who speaks truth and love? (John 17:17)

As I dried my tears, I found a new determination to let go of the anxiety-producing what-ifs and take hold of the prevailing peace God promises. Because even if, God is still big enough to handle whatever comes my way, and none of it takes Him by surprise. 

Father, You know all the what-ifs on my heart today. I want to replace them with the truth of who You are. Your love for me isn’t something I have to wonder about the way I wonder about so many other things. Help me to live in the peace of this reality. In Jesus’s name, amen.