All the Hobby Lobby Plaques....

First things first.

Shauna has a new post up on the Storyline blog. You can go ahead and read hers now, I can wait.  

         Okay.

DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THAT SHE TECHNICALLY SAID MY NAME AND SPELLED IT RIGHT?!

          Look!!!!!!! 

Guys. We are basically on the cusp of becoming best friends. The heart palpitations. 

The story she talked about wasn’t teeeechnically about me, but no one else spells Caitlyn the same way as I do! Never mind that she said, “Kate? Kathy?” afterwards. The degrees of separation are shrinking, my friends. Know this. 

NOW, on to the actual post. 

Phillipians 4:6,7 is one of those verses that I like to think doesn’t apply to me. If it’s been put on a plaque at Hobby Lobby, I’m just done with it. This is unfortunately what I do with many overused Bible verses… I assume I have now ‘placed out’ of them applying to my life. Give the plaques to the baby Christians. Give me the really ancient, overlooked stuff. Give me this one: 

“For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace;

The mountains and hills before you shall break forth into singing,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

Isaiah 55:12

It’s beautiful, right? This is actually one of my favorite verses. As I was just typing it though, I realized that I don’t really live like I believe this. I live more like it reads this way: 

“For you shall go out reluctantly, and be led forth into a pack of hungry hyenas;

The mountains & hills before you will fall into spontaneous landslides and avalanches,

And all the trees of the field shall burst into flames.”

Robin calls this paranoid.

I call it Maternal Instincts.

Whatever we call it though, it doesn’t change the fact that living life crippled by anxiety is not healthy. And would you like to know, gentle reader, what the remedy for that way of thinking is? 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in all things, through prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God with thanksgiving, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

That’s right. Freakin' Phillipians 4:6-7. All the Hobby Lobby plaques. 

God, to insure that I was picking up what He was laying down, sent me that verse, through several different people and mediums, 5 times yesterday. 

5 TIMES IN MY FAAAACE. 

Transition- change- makes me panicky. So when we are in times of transition, I usually get some anxiety. The kind that responsible people get, but the kind that makes you feel like you’re walking out into a landslide/ forest fire. But each time I feel that little panic knot forming in my throat, this verse comes up, and it cuts panic off. As my mom always says, "It's a command and a promise. You have to choose not to be anxious before you get the peace." And I've been getting the peace, the peace that doesn’t really make sense. 

Isn’t that what’s so good about God’s economy? 

-We come with deficit and leave with excess. 

-We come guilty and leave innocent. 

-We come with anxiety and leave with peace. 

-We come with thanksgiving and leave with more reasons to praise. 

- We come needy and leave brave. 

What are those verses you think you’ve placed out of? Go back and take a look at them. Chances are, they still apply to you, and they may be especially relevant to your life right now. 

Buy the plaque.