Written by Lindsey Hargraves, KidzWorld Assistant

I’m not one to typically make a New Year’s resolution. Looking over the past year, however, I feel like God’s been showing me an area in my life I need to work on…worry. I tend to worry about a lot of things in my life – especially when they aren’t a part of “my plan.” I’ve never been a fan of life’s curveballs (I assume not many people are). But, looking back over my life, those are the times when I’ve had some of the most significant turning points in my life – where I’ve seen God show up and really show me who He is. Here are a couple examples:

I was in a job where I was working full time. I liked what I was doing, and, as an office manager, I was able to do work that utilized my degree. So, I figured I was in the right place. After a couple of years, I felt unsettled and couldn’t figure out why. One day, I was asked to join the KidzWorld team…in a part time position. I was beyond excited because I loved the time I spent each weekend volunteering in KidzWorld and could feel it was the right move. But how could we afford it? I didn’t know how we could make it work. Luckily, I have an amazing & supportive husband who was behind this change (and who wasn’t worried by the way). After much prayer, I made the change. And you know what–God showed up. Everything worked out fine, and I saw that when you follow God’s plan – He will take care of the rest. Lesson learned, right? Wrong.

After a couple years of marriage, my husband and I decided to try and start a family. It didn’t happen right away, but I had read that it can take about a year for a couple to get pregnant. Well, one year passed, then two, and soon it had been about 4 years. I decided to talk to my doctor about it. She put me on fertility medication to try to help with the process and after the first month, we were pregnant! Unfortunately, we had a miscarriage at about 7 weeks along. So, we continued on the medication (along with some other testing). I was at the point where I thought it wasn’t in the plan for us to have our own children – again, defeated that things hadn’t gone according to “my plan.” In December of 2013, we found out we were pregnant again. This time, we were blessed with Easton who was born in September 2014. Looking back, if God had allowed us to begin our family when we thought it was the right time, we would not have been in such an ideal place as we are now – both financially & spiritually. Our situation right now is so much better than it was back then and I can see that God’s timing was perfect.

In both of these times in my life, God showed me that I didn’t need to worry, just trust in Him. But, you know, it’s not always a curveball – sometimes, it feels like a strike…right? in. the. face. A week after Easton was born, I was in the ER and the hospital. After multiple tests & being scared for my life (literally) – it was discovered that I had postpartum pre-eclampsia. With that and a couple of other medical issues, I didn’t really feel great for the first 6 months of my son’s life! Not long after finally feeling better, I discovered I was pregnant, again. I thought, how is this going to work in our small house. Can we afford it? What if I have a lot of medical problems again?

All that being said, when I look at 2015 – it has been the greatest year of my life. I’ve watched Easton, our biggest blessing thus far, learn so many new things in his first 1+ year. He brings constant joy to my life and I can’t think of anything better than being a mommy. I have the most amazing husband who I could not be more grateful for (and what an awesome daddy he is!). He has had to “step up to the plate” on many of these occasions, and he does it without complaint. I have an awesome job where I get to see kids impacted each weekend by our awesome God! Finally, I have a remarkable group of family, friends, and co-workers that have been such a blessing of support & encouragement for me. And last, but certainly not least, I can’t wait to meet our newest blessing in just a couple of weeks.

So, why have I wasted any time worrying? Everything has turned out better than I could have thought. It has become very clear to me that God’s got my life under control as long as I let Him have control. His plan far exceeds any of my own expectations for my life. So, when life throws me a curveball or strike in the face, I’ve decided to just take it to Him in prayer & then worry less.

Don’t worry about anything. No matter what happens, tell God about everything. Ask and pray, and give thanks to him.  Then God’s peace will watch over your hearts and your minds. He will do this because you belong to Christ Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood. Philippians 4:6-7 (NIrV)