Tuesday, October 16, 2018


All the Little Things
By Susan Klein

“Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you.”

While engaged in conversation with a close friend, she shared that she had accepted a request for her services that she was now regretting. Her plate was more full than she’d realized and adding one more thing was bringing her stress. I asked if she had prayed about it before accepting, to which she replied, “No. It was something very simple that I knew I could do and didn’t feel it warranted prayer.”

I’ve recently come to ponder this aspect of prayer. While my friend was certainly capable of accomplishing this simple task, what if God had wanted to spare her the stress He knew it would bring at that particular time in her life? What if He had already been preparing someone else’s heart to say “yes” to the request? Might He have somehow revealed this to her through prayer?

We all amble through our days making countless decisions without first praying. We don’t typically pray about what to eat for breakfast or which clothes to wear for the day. Praying beforehand may likely double the time it takes to accomplish each task. So how do we know which tasks to pray about?

This passage has become my standard for prayer. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5-7, emphasis added).


That “peace” part really grabs me! If we know a task has even the slightest potential for anxiety, we ought to pray before giving ascent. Conversely, if we’re feeling stressed, it might be a likely indicator that we should have sought God’s counsel first. Perhaps it’s a simple matter of just praying over our day’s to-do list so we don’t stress or miss out on God’s plans for us.

Just this morning, I searched at length for a recipe I couldn’t find. Not knowing if I should continue the fruitless pursuit or give up, I stopped and asked God for help, even in this seemingly insignificant matter. I wanted to be able to glorify Him and not be anxious. He answered my prayer and replaced my anxiety with His peace. Nothing is too insignificant to God!

While He doesn’t always answer our prayers immediately, God surely delights in our asking, knowing that we’re choosing to trust Him and keep Him involved in all the little things in our life. And… there’s just no substitute for His peace!

GOING DEEPER:
Don’t have time for stress? Make time for prayer.

FURTHER READING:

Susan is married to Mark, and co-leads an in-home small group. She serves as a mentor to young women, and is a member of Oakwood’s Peace Team, helping people work through conflict.