What IF...?

   My former line of reasoning for "What if" questions looked something like this -

If we can't pay our bills this month, then one of us will have to work more, taking time
      away from our family, causing our marriage to suffer and...
If our basement floods with water again, then it will cost us both time and money that we
      do not have right now.  I'll be so mad at the company who just did work for us...
If my three year old does not nap today, then he will be cranky, I will be cranky, and
      bedtime will be a nightmare...

   For each situation, I had a logical line of events listed in my mind, most of which seemed too overwhelming to dwell on.  But, dwell on them I often did.  Then, I heard a seminar by Beth Moore in her Esther study which turned my "What if..." world around.

   She wrote "What IF" on a board and explained that the "I" and "F" stood for "I Fear".  WHAT I FEAR. Of course.  It made sense to me.  I filled in the blank after the word "if" with all the things I feared might happen next.  If _______, THEN _______.  Yes, she summed it up quite nicely.  Then, she explained how filling in our own blank was actually a form of not trusting God.  Ouch. 

    I trust God.  I want to trust God.  I say I trust God.  I guess I do not trust God more than I would like to admit. 

    Instead, Beth noted, we need to come to a place in life where we can put "God" in the blank.  It looked like this: "If ______, THEN GOD."  Next came the hard part - no matter what the ______ is.  She encouraged us to go ahead and follow our line of reasoning out to the worst situation we could possibly imagine.  For me, it was a toss up between something horrible happening to my husband or my children.  Guess what?  At the end of my reasoning, God was still with me.  God promised to comfort me and provide for me.  In fact, God said in Joshua 1:5, "I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."

   If _____, THEN GOD.   
   If _____, THEN GOD.
   If _____, THEN GOD.

   Go ahead, follow your fear to the end.  The same God who promised to be with me will be with you.  Do you trust him?  Do you trust he loves you completely and perfectly?  Do you trust he knows what is best for you?  Do you think he wants us to waste precious time worrying, when he will be in every situation we encounter in the future?

   "My comforter and my shield, help me to let go of my 'What IF ______' and let you into the 'THEN _____.'  I choose to trust you.  I choose to believe you will never leave me.  Amen."