Philippians 4:6 NLT “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

I have found it literally impossible to read this verse from Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Philippi without having Bob Marley’s voice singing in the back of my head.  You too?

🎼”Don’t worry about a thing, ‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”

Yep, it’s going to be stuck in your head all day long now!  You’re welcome! Glad I could help.
Too often it’s easier said (or sung) than done, though. At least in my life I have found that to be true. To look on the bright side and find a silver lining in the chaos of the storms that living tends to blow our way.

A couple of weeks ago, our nineteen year old son sat down on the sectional in the living room a little too forcefully causing two of the support wires to snap leaving a significant hole to sink down into as you sit. We weren’t upset at all considering that other springs had broken by that point and the pleather was continuing to peel away on the ottoman every time someone rested their feet on it. Our kids’ friends have dubbed it, “The Forever Couch” because once you were on it, you weren’t getting back up! It was like quicksand pulling you in every time you sat down. It definitely served its purpose and received a lot of love from my family over the years, but it was time for a new purchase from the furniture store.

But how to get rid of this massive 4-piece sectional?  Luckily, the Broomfield city spring cleanup for our neighborhood was last weekend, and all I had to do was get this monstrosity curbside for pickup.  Unluckily, the couch we chose to purchase that same week is currently on backorder for a month!  And yes, you would have thought that we could have simply picked a different couch set. But the answer to that would be, “No”!  Our second and third choices would also have been on backorder (due to all the stimulus spending)…and you apparently don’t know my wife, Missy, because she already knew the style and color it had to be. So for a month we will have a very very open living room. We’ve brought in some lawn chairs and plan to have the carpet cleaned next week…trying our best to make the most of the situation.  And above all, to not worry about the lack of furniture we currently have to host with. After all, 1 Timothy 6:6 says that godliness with contentment is great gain, so I am learning contentment during this month! As pastors, we tend to have people in our house for dinner nearly every week, so I’m very interested to see the expression on the faces of the family we host this week when they walk in!

So it may be a very simple non-life changing situation you are in during this season, or a very dark storm that wants to consume you. Either way, let’s make the choice today not to worry, but instead, turn our attention to the One who can meet every need and bring us out on the other side.  After all, there’s a lot we have to be thankful for!