Lent Devotion Guide #5 – Overcoming The Lies: Anxiety and Worry

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2021

An Introduction
Hello Connect Church Family! As we prepare for the coming of Easter I will be sharing a sermon series titled, “Overcoming the Lies.” To accompany the sermon series and help us grow as individual Christians, we have also put together this devotional guide. I hope this will be a blessing to you! Every weekday, for the next several weeks, you are invited to join your church family and spend a few moments in this book. A number of people from our church community have contributed to make this booklet possible. On other days I have shared short thoughts on scriptures and left space for you to pray through what the scripture means for you. I hope you will join me and many others in your church family as we prepare for the coming of Easter!
-Pastor Adam Ricks

Read Psalm 34:4

For many of us, worry and anxiety have been a part of our everyday life, especially during this past year of the pandemic. We have felt so much fear for our health, our family and friends’ health, our jobs, and the unknown that we have been faced with. For many of us, God is the only constant in our lives. He teaches us to have faith and to pray. My main source of peace is when I rely on prayer during those times of worry that overwhelm me.
When I was pregnant with our youngest, Dane, we found out he would be born with a congenital heart defect. We were told that he would need open heart surgery for him to survive. As you can imagine, this was devastating news. However, we immediately began praying for God to give our son the best chance at survival and to calm our worries. He placed us in care of the most incredible team at OU Children’s Heart Center and I had numerous fetal echoes done for the cardiologist to get a better look at Dane’s heart before birth. It was such a relief to know before birth what we were dealing with and to be as prepared as we could be.
One of the hardest things we have ever done was to send our tiny 7-day old baby into open heart surgery, but within 5 minutes of leaving him, I had complete peace. All my prayers, of course had been to protect our son and heal his heart, but also to give us peace and comfort. Honestly, I was the calmest during his surgery than I had been the entire time before. I knew in my heart that God had complete control and Dane would be ok.
Today, Dane is a healthy and very active 2-year-old! We thank God every day for protecting Dane and walking us through such a difficult time. I leave you with this, go and give all your worries to God. Pray for him to calm your mind and give you peace in your heart from those heavy burdens you may carry. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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”.
-Angela Blessum (ConnectUMC Member)