I recently went to a lovely tea with a group of women of various ages and one of the pieces of advice that stuck with me was what one of the ladies said to, “go to the throne, instead of the phone.” That tidbit stuck with me as I filled my days. As someone who likes to process externally and one that sometimes feels too much, I often talk to my mom or my closest friends about a lot of things. If I’m feeling a bit off, overwhelmed or excited I need to share it and often feel better once I have. But, one thing I’m learning is to go to God FIRST and then share. Sometimes, I don’t even feel the need to share because in my prayers, things get a new perspective, they shift.

Something amazing happens when you cast your anxieties and worries at the feet of the father, I mean, it’s like it’s biblical or something… That’s because it is. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? … Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”(Matthew 6:25-33, ESV)”

God has given me a sweet gift of rest this Summer and while I’m trying to make the best of it, this is the first time I’ve truly rested in a long time. Among many pressures, responsibilities and worries, I’ve learned to trust and rest in his presence. No, that doesn’t mean I have to spend all day at a beautiful church service or all day in my quiet space, it’s having that amazing connection with God through the Holy Spirit. It’s going to the throne before the phone. It’s telling God what I really feel, even if it can seem silly. It’s thanking God for what he has already done, and for what he will do. It’s as simple as believing that his promises are true when the world tells you there’s no way, not you. Rest has been reading, cooking and hanging out with my favorite people and bonfires at the beach. Rest has been trusting God and not putting too much burden on myself. It’s knowing that God gives me choices and I’m FREE to take them. It’s knowing that he doesn’t force me to do anything, yet gives me the option to, like a beautiful walk through a meadow, I can choose to linger or to walk through swiftly.

This weekend a good friend of mine told me how I seemed so happy, free and peaceful. I smiled. A long way from my anxious, talk over everyone to be heard, worried and stressed self. Here I am, happy free and peaceful. I used to ask God to help me talk less and listen more, to live free without anxiety and have peace in him. That day those prayers were answered. God is doing a good work in you if you allow him to. Talk to him, tell him how you really feel. Ask him to lead you in this intricate and delicate dance called life, he will, gracefully.

So if anything has caused such change in my life recently it’s to go to the throne first. That’s the best piece of advice I can give, and that I have been given. Pray, pray, pray. The more you communicate with God, the more you will have the eyes to see what he is already doing, and if you don’t see, you will be encouraged. I was feeling very discouraged and I prayed to God about this, honestly and tearfully. That same day I ended sharing with another friend all the ways that God has taught me to trust in him, and all the ways he has blessed me abundantly more than I even knew. I laughed in the car ride back home and thought, thanks God. It’s funny how on the days where you are feeling at your worst, God can use you, the same person to uplift someone else, and to be reminded all that he has already done. It’s a shame our memories are so short sometimes…

So, I’ll leave you with this. Cast your anxieties, your thoughts, your worries, your pain, your dreams, your plans, your excitement, your love and your doubts all to the Father through prayer and supplication. And then watch, watch how he transforms your anxieties into your victories, your thoughts into actions, your worries into peace, your pain into gardens of life, your dreams into reality, your plans, excitement and love into something so much more than you could even imagine. He never worries, never forgets, and never leaves you. Yet, he always does abundantly and infinitely more, even if that begins with changing your anxieties into peace. Smiles all around.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  (Ephesians 3:20, NLT)