Stones of Remembrance: Two Verses and Halloween

I am sorry that I never got around to posting my verse for yesterday. It was a crazy day. Gracen woke me up 3 am and she never went back to sleep. She appeared to have a nightmare of some sort and was petrified to go back into her crib. I tried laying down with her and she was simply wide awake. Yesterday, was Halloween and I had volunteered to help at Reagan's school...starting with a hayride at 8:30. I was tired by the time I got there. Gracen and I got back home around lunch. We both ate and then took a nap. Gracen slept for 3 hours and I slept for about an hour. After that I had to shower and get ready for the night... "Light the Night for Jesus" at our church in honor of Halloween. We picked Reagan up from school and I spent the afternoon bathing both girls and getting them dressed and ready in their costumes. We had a great night and I added a few pictures below.

This week in our Bible study we are leading up to a lesson on worry...a big issue for me. I don't feel worthy to teach the lesson because this is one of my biggest weaknesses. Through the study, I am starting to realize just how much Satan uses my thoughts to distract me from God's truth. When I worry about ridiculous scenarios that usually NEVER happen, I am not resting in God's Word and the many promises that are available to me.

Yesterday's verse was Matt. 11:28..."Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest."

This is not your typical go-to verse on worry but the author of our study makes a great point that worry makes you physically tired. It causes a heaviness in your spirit and robs you of restful sleep. Worries about our relationships, our many roles, our responsibilities, our finances, etc. can be overwhelming, causing our thoughts to get "divided" all over the place. God desires that we focus on His truth which promises to give a sound mind. Jesus calls us to come to Him and to lay everything down at His feet, which means we have to stop rehearsing things in our minds. When we lay everything down, He will truly give us rest for our spirits.

Today's verse is Psalms 91:1-2..."He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, My refuge and My fortress, My God, in whom I trust."

Again, not your typical verse on worry, but when we worry and we are fearful, we are not resting in the truths found in these verses. God is sovereign and He sees our entire lives from beginning to end. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Everything that touches our lives has been filtered through His hands for our good purposes. He wants us to continually remember that He will never leave us....He is a shelter... He calls us to abide in His shadow...He is a refuge...He is fortress...He can be trusted.

Abiding in God is spending that daily time with Him in His Word and in prayer. That time is what transforms us from the inside out. The more time we spend in His presence the more we will trust in the promises of scripture enabling us to conquer anxious thoughts.

For family, I wanted to share a few pictures. On Saturday night, we carved two pumpkins for the Halloween weekend.