Neither of my children is shy about expressing thoughts, feelings, or emotions to me.  Whether they are happy, sad, excited, or mad, my girls openly share.  Particularly when they are worried, fearful, or troubled, Nia and Brielle bring their problems to me because they know that I love and care about them. They also know that Mommy is going to do her absolute best to help make things better.   They do not hesitate. They do not wonder what I might think about what they have to say. My children simply cast their cares. 

The same practice applies to us and our Father, God. We can cast our cares on Him. 1 Peter 5:7 states, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you,” (NLT).   I am so glad that we serve a God who can handle our doubts, handle our fears, and handle our worries.  Not only can He handle our cares, but His word tells us to cast, in other words, give ALL of our worries and cares to Him.  Can you think of any area outside of ALL? I sure can’t! God invites us to come directly to Him. Wow! I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many people who have invited me to give them my burdens, do you? Nothing is off-limits or too heavy for our Father to bear.

For anyone who thought that you had to sugarcoat your feelings to our Heavenly Father, I have come to help free you from that notion.  Psalm 55:22 states, “Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall,” (NLT).  Our Father loves you and is interested in every care, concern, or burden that you have. We can be honest and transparent with Him. After all, we are only fooling ourselves if we think that we are hiding our true thoughts and feelings from our all-knowing and all-seeing God anyway. Healing begins to take place the more honest we get with God. Our load gets lighter, and our relationship is strengthened with Him. Our Father wants to bear our burdens. He desires to take care of us. I envision our heavenly Father sitting with outward extended hands, open posture, and a warm smile waiting for us as His children to come to Him.  I pray that you pause for a moment and envision the same image too!

When it seems like your friends don’t care or know how to handle your concerns, God does. When it seems as if your spouse or significant other does not care or understand how to handle your burdens, God does. When it seems like the world does not care, God cares. Furthermore, when it seems as if no one is available for you to share your worries and concerns, God is always there.  He never sends us, His children, to voicemail. He never leaves our messages in unread status. He does not block our calls no matter how many times we dial into the prayer line (Thank You Jesus!), and let me let you in on a little secret… Are you ready? Come in a little closer… Sometimes God is the one who allows others to be unavailable so that we can come directly to Him. Besides, why not bring our cares to THE ONE who promises to handle all of them?   Why not bring all of our cares to THE ONE who sweetly declares that He cares for us? Family, I am with you on this one, let’s agree that we will do better about casting ALL of our cares, concerns, worries, fears, and everything else on God because He deeply cares for us, understands our struggles, and wants to help us get through our situations.

Reflect & Relate

What is that one thing that is keeping you up at night? God wants that issue. What are you worried about that no one else seems to understand?  God wants that too. Give it to Him. What additional cares, concerns, or burdens do you need to give to our Father, God, today?

Before we pray, I encourage you to rewrite the scriptures and make them personal.  My rewrite would look something like this, “I can give all of my cares and worries to God, for he cares about me.” The second scripture passage would be rewritten as follows: “I can give my burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of me.  He will not permit me to slip and fall.” Post these notes in an easily visible location so that you can refer to them often.

Let Us Pray

Dear God, my Father… Thank you for reminding me that you care about me. Thank you for letting me know that I can give ALL my fears, worries, doubts, and concerns to you, and I can be confident that you will take care of each one of them because that is what you promise me in your word.  I am so grateful that I can come to you in complete honesty, sincerity, and truth knowing that your ears are open and attentive to every one of my concerns.  You are truly a good Father, and for that, I give you all the glory, honor, and praise. I accept your invitation to give all my cares and burdens to you. 

Today I come casting the care of ________________________. Please help me with this area of my life. Please stop me when I have the urge to pick this burden back up. Give me sweet sleep where I have had restless insomnia. Give me peace where I feel confused. Give me hope where I feel doubt and give me joy where I feel sorrow.  These things I ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.

I invite you to check out my new book, “A Glimpse of Our Father: Lessons Parenthood Reveals for All of God’s Children.”

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