Just Give it A Chance

Sitting at the feet of a younger woman who has been married for twelve years, I gathered a few tips about marriage. One of the tips was to do with whites! Even if I love white and I have a number of items that are white, I knew that I needed to learn more! Therefore, I said a prayer. I asked GOD to teach me how to ‘handle’ white and it was not long before He answered my prayer!

 

Among the gifts that I received on my birthday, last week, was a pair of bedroom slippers. Now, this would have been quite normal except for the fact that they are WHITE! This pair of white bedroom slippers made me very anxious. I asked myself a number of questions; ‘Would I be able to maintain them well’? ‘Wouldn’t the glue that held each slipper together come apart at the first wash’? Anyway, by the grace of GOD, I slowly let go of my anxiety, made myself comfortable in them and waited to learn from the One who had clearly engineered everything.

 

The time I had been dreading soon came upon me when I realized that the bedroom slippers were dirty and that I needed to give them their first wash. Therefore, I slowly made an examination of them and noticed that instead of glue the wise manufacturer had used very thick thread, or what looked like sisal, to hold them together! Therefore, my scare that they would come apart during or after the first wash was erased.

 

Mixing a solution of detergent in a basin, I proceeded to wash the white slippers. I thought that I would have to soak them for a while only to realize the dirt quickly dissolving. You see, the material was so ‘friendly’ that it did not hold on to the dirt! In fact, what I thought would take a very long time ended up taking just a few minutes! I was pleasantly surprised. GOD used just one wash to erase my fears – I had been anxious for nothing! He had also given me a lesson in keeping whites WHITE!

 

Now, this led me to think about how often we fail to enjoy the very things that GOD has given us without ‘giving them a chance’. Sometimes, GOD gives us something that we think will be too much to handle! We list up all the negative things about that ‘gift’ that will stand in the way of our perfect handling of it. This list then dampens our excitement let alone our enjoyment and effective use of it only to realize that we did not have to worry about it and that we should have simply enjoyed it.

  

Philippians 4:6-7

 

 

“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.

 

I know I am talking to someone when I say that, ‘give it a chance’. Simply accept that ‘gift’, for it is one, and work through the anxiety. It will not be that hard to maintain if you purpose to give it a chance! Besides, the word of GOD tell us to be anxious for nothing but through prayer and supplication make our needs known to GOD.

 

Word of Knowledge

 

I see one scenario of a spiritual gift that one has been given. I see someone very anxious about that beautiful gift that GOD has given you. I see you using it ‘sparingly’ and with fear lest you do something unworthy. You will not be put to shame. Simply relax and let GOD use it through you!

 

I see someone with a spouse (of the opposite sex) who is anxious about not doing things right. The GOD who gave her to you will enable you to do just right.

 

Prayer

 

Almighty Father, I come to you in confession that sometimes I am anxious about the things that you have given me. The fear of how I shall maintain them, or that they will come apart in my hands, makes me so anxious that I fail to enjoy them as I should. Please forgive me. I now acknowledge that you are the GOD who only gives me what you know that I can handle. I know that you are with me every step of the way and that you will guide me as we go along. I know that you will not let me be put to the shame that results from mismanagement of the gift that you have given me. Father, I pray that you take away all the anxiety that had assailed me and replace it with assurance that I will be just fine. I thank you, LORD, because you have done it. In Jesus’ name, I have prayed, amen.