From Anxiety to Praise

When distressing situations come up, I need to remember to pray for a calm spirit and for insight into what God’s doing. Here’s an example of God’s faithfulness in an anxiety provoking situation:

I was taking my husband, Tom, to the airport. I was scheduled to take the same exact flights in a week, bringing two of our grandchildren with me (ages 8 & 9 at that time). Tom and I left the house a little after 5:AM. I dropped him off at the local airport and returned home. When I got home, he called to say the flight was canceled but he got one at another airport that departed at 8:AM and would still make his connecting flight in time. (It was crucial that we make that particular connecting flight in order to get to our destination out in the wilderness before dark.) So I picked him up and took him to the newly assigned airport.

I  confess that my first reaction was anxiety: what if this happened to me when I had the grandchildren? I had never been to that airport and I’m not good with internet stuff to figure out another plan.

But then it hit me! God was giving me the opportunity to do this with Tom just in case it did happen the following week. Tom showed me how to get there.  After I dropped him off, I circled the airport two times until I figured out how to get to the proper parking structure, then went home, praising God that I knew what to do. Tom said I should just stick with my original plans and, if my flight got canceled, do the same thing he did.

Though I was hoping it would be the Lord’s will to keep our original plans, at least I felt confident that I could make the change and stay calm. It would have been far worse if Tom’s flight had been okay and then mine got cancelled! God is faithful!   (As it turned out, God did keep my original plans.)

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