By Tanya Brown
So I just had this experience that really just clicked everything for me. I was walking down my lane just to set the scene, there are trees on both sides of the lane and in those trees are a million magpies flying around. There were so many magpies I actually considered walking back to the other lane, which would have taken way longer.
I personally hate magpies, from a past experience. When I was say 9 I saw about 5 magpies swoop my mum and like peck her head… blood was everywhere… And now every time I see a magpie fear hits me. Funny I know, as it is only a magpie, but the truth is my perception of the magpie has been changed due to that experience.
So anyways back to my story I was walking back home, and it’s going to sound really strange but I felt God say sing ‘Your Love Never Fails’ by Jesus Culture as I was walking down the lane. I must have looked like a complete idiot walking down the lane, by myself, singing, but that is the pleasure of living where I live, no one can see you. So anyways I found this new sense of strength, the fear was gone, I didn’t look at the magpies, I could hear them, but I didn’t turn my head, I kept my eyes looking onward and forward. I felt as if in a strange way that I had some force field around me haha. But you know what? The magpies didn’t attack me! So really I was just layering unnecessary stress onto myself.
Do you have any fears? Or worries? Do you let them direct where you go or what you do? Do you let them influence you, rather than delving into that security found in God, that is completely accessible for you?
I personally have a challenge to continually re-align my focus from my worries to God. I love the verse Matthew 6:33-34, ‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
And this one, Psalm 94:18-19: ‘When I said “My foot is slipping,” when anxiety was great within me, your consultation brought joy to my soul.’
And there are a million more, but the truth is, we need to just cast our worries onto him, he is in control and is forever in control. He knows what is going to happen tomorrow, the next day, and for every day after. He has it sorted. I know it’s so hard to realise, but we need to live in Faith. For it is ‘through Faith we have been saved’-Ephesians 2:8. We need to not fear the world, or the many things within it.
I find it funny that God told me to sing that song, if you haven’t heard it, listen to it! I think it is the bridge that says, ‘All things work together for my good, you make, all things work together for my good.’ If that is true, why worry? Everything that you go through, every hard and tough time, God works together for your good- because he loves and cares for you his prized child.
If we spend our lives looking at the magpies, so to speak, we won’t be able to see the road ahead. It’s like when you drive – you drive to what you focus on naturally. What are you focused on? Don’t let the sound of the magpies, distract you from the plan and purpose God has for your life. And you know what? This morning I found my HSC results and I realised that all the stress and worry over them was so pointless, like whatever I got, whether terrible or good, obviously God already knew them, and obviously that wouldn’t affect what his plan for my life was. So really I looked at that magpie for no reason, so don’t cast all your worries and attention on the magpies, because it takes just as much effort to cast all of it to God, and trust me God has our back, the magpies don’t.
