The clock is running, the countdown has begun. This may be the last bloggage for a little while as I am expecting a brief stay in hospital at the start of next week. It’s not for anything life-threatening, but after the surgery I am hoping it will make life more comfortable for me. I won’t explain here in case you are squeamish but will put an explanation at the foot of this bloggage for those who are interested*. (I may blog from the hospital but they may be under the influence of anaesthesia or painkillers so may make even less sense than usual).

Are you like me: when big events are coming up do you tend to focus on them? Do you find yourself considering possibilities where there are different possible outcomes or filling in the gaps where your knowledge is limited? Is it the thing to which your mind wanders when you have nothing else to occupy it?

It’s not that I am worried. In fact I generally find that few things worry me. (Although when I was at school I lost count of the number of times teachers told me not to look so worried and I had to tell them that it was my normal face, I wasn’t worried). I think the lack of worry is because I know that the things of this life are transient. Even my time on this planet is limited (not because I am going into space). And that doesn’t worry me.

Jesus was pretty well spot on when he advised people:

Here is the bottom line: do not worry about your life. Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. Don’t worry about how you clothe your body. Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than dressing up. Look at the birds in the sky. They do not store food for winter. They don’t plant gardens. They do not sow or reap—and yet, they are always fed because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird. If He looks after them, of course He will look after you. Worrying does not do any good; who here can claim to add even an hour to his life by worrying? (Matthew 6:25-34 from The Voice version of the Bible).

Worrying only increases stress levels and prolonged stress is not good for us. So there are health benefits to trusting God!

And here’s where we come almost full circle. If I am able to make God’s priorities my priorities because I trust him I will find that the things that are important to him start to fill my mind when I have nothing else to occupy it. I find that he starts to nudge me in the right directions, he prompts me to make the right phone call at the right time and other ‘coincidences’ happen. I find that my relationship with him becomes more naturally part of who I am and less something I have to work hard at.

It starts with faith. And God can use the tiniest bit of that to do amazing things!

Be blessed, be a blessing.

* I have a wonderful gadget implanted into me – an occipital nerve stimulator – to reduce and eliminate chronic migraine and cluster headaches. The unit needs to be relocated slightly because where the cable comes out of the unit it is a bit close to the surface of my skin and can make the area tender and sometimes a bit raw. The operation is to make it more comfortable.