Reach for God’s hand

“God is the One who clasps your hand as you move from one place to another. He is the One who has gone ahead of you, prepared a place for you, and will hold out His hand for you to cling to.”

? SUSAN MILLER

“Cindy, I liked your column last week about trusting God and not taking everything so seriously all the time,” a friend said. “I used to love a colorful T-shirt I bought in the Caribbean that said, ‘Not my job, mon.’ I often said that to myself when I got worked up about something, but I added two more words, so I said, ‘Not my job, mon, it’s God’s’ and that helped me stress less and trust God more.”

I appreciated the thought and said that I’d received a few other suggestions, too. One reader said she realized that there were situations she could either laugh or cry about, and when she faced those, she remembered the phrase, “He who laughs, lasts” and tried to laugh whenever possible. She explained that doing so not only felt good but often lessened her negative emotions and made the situation more manageable.

Another friend said a counselor had told her that whenever a worry came to mind, she was to write it on a piece of paper and put it into an envelope that said “WWC” on it. The letters stood for “Wednesday Worry Club,” and she was to wait until Wednesday to read the papers out loud and then she could worry about them.

“The exercise helped because the act of writing the worry, putting it in an envelope and telling myself I didn’t have to worry about it until Wednesday actually took a lot of the power out of the worries,” she said. “If they came to mind before the next Wednesday, I just reminded myself that I would do whatever action I needed to, trust God and not worry about it yet, and it really helped. By the time Wednesday came around, there usually was no significant problem left.”

Another friend said she remembered bumper stickers that said, “My dad is bigger than your dad.”

She told me that when faced with challenging dilemmas, she would tell herself, “My God is bigger than all my big problems put together” and then she prayed for God to help her with her problems. Doing that reminded her that God was her heavenly Father who wanted to help her.

I have always liked thinking about God as my heavenly Father, and I especially like the image of holding his hand and being strengthened by the security of a big, strong, heavenly Father holding onto me.

That image came to mind recently when I walked with my granddaughter Mary through a large supermarket. Mary ran ahead of me, and when she turned to look for me, I saw that she was looking in the wrong direction. She looked mildly panicked, but then instantly smiled when she saw me, and she ran back and grabbed my hand. She chatted happily while holding my hand as we walked down the aisle.

I often run ahead of God but then remind myself to stop and reach out for God. God is always eagerly and lovingly waiting with his arms outstretched for me.

And you can quote me on that.