Bright Hope
A Blog About Anxious Thoughts by Julia Sifers
I roll out of bed. My feet touch the floor and I squint at my phone to see what time it is. I have 3 minutes before my alarm was going to go off, but I’m already in the sitting up position, and if I’m honest if I cozy back in now, it will be for a lot longer than three minutes.
The drag on the start of the day is not how I like to start, but it was a restless night. The cloud of worry that settled as I tried to fall asleep stuck around, and met me in the morning. The weight of this worry pushed my mind to a distracted place so now forgetfulness and clumsiness was added to the attributes of the day. Not a good morning.
It sounds like if I were a cartoon, I would be colored in with grays and have a scribble cloud over my head. Which is a little dramatic, because it wasn’t more than an unknown that was approaching in our lives. But I made room for that unknown in my mind, and it grew, and invited it’s friends: Worry and Fear. The three of them were a rowdy bunch, and before I knew it, this little uncertainty, was becoming loud anxiety.
I don’t like to throw the word “anxiety” around, because in the past years it’s become a very known feeling, that honestly has crippled the capable and shrunk the amazing. It’s a mean thing, with little warning and aggressive intent.
But I do feel like it’s important to talk about it. When we talk about it, and see it for what it is, there are times we can overcome it completely, or at least deflate the power it has in that moment.
The morning continued to be a disaster (or how about we say less productive) and I did one of those prayers when I look up at the ceiling (because I was inside) like I was looking up at the heavens and said “oh God. I can’t even.” And what do you know, an old hymn popped in my head. I believe it was His response:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with 10, 000 beside
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
The line that stood out, is the one I put in bold: “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” This is not the first time this song, and that line have snapped me out of a hard day, or the slippery slope of worry toward anxious thoughts.
Because of all the other lyrics of the song, all that He has done, we can have strength for today. And that’s all we need to worry ourselves with, just today. But worry likes us to think ahead and stress about things we can’t control. All those bad what if’s and potentials. So we have a line to throw at those too “a bright hope for tomorrow.” We’re not just talking about the feeling of “wouldn’t it be nice if…”. But a BRIGHT hope, the kind that blinds worry and anxious thoughts. When we have those hard days, its not easy to pivot out, and that’s when we need to pray those “look up to the ceiling” prayers and let God fill us the strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Because He knows us.
Because He cares.
Because He wants us to be close to Him!
