piece by piece

We’ve all had those days. Sometimes those days trickle out into those weeks, or even those months.

You know, the kind of days where the present needs and responsibilities of life are so constant and demanding, that you cannot even begin to look to what’s ahead or to make sense of anything. You are clawing away at everything, yet grasping nothing .

I have seen anxiety grab a hold of some of my dearest friends and try to strangle them. Pain from the past, fear of the future, the weight of my responsibilities – it has taken its hold on me, too. I get so overwhelmed with trying to order and organize my world that I can’t think straight. My coping mechanism is usually to do nothing, which only makes matters worse. I love this quote- it’s a spiritually eloquent way of saying do the next thing.

“Do not yield to the temptation of looking at everything at once, as if everything would happen at once, and all the events of the day be crowded into an hour. Do not thus forecast, but take each thing as it comes to you, and look upon it as the present expression of the will of God concerning you; then regard the next in the same way, and thus receive your day piece by piece from Him who will remember always when He gives you work to do, that you need strength to do it.” ~Priscilla Maurice

I love thinking about seeing each task as the present expression of the will of God concerning you. Each moment, each need to be met, God has providentially assigned to me. I can find joy in receiving my day from Him piece by piece. Instead of allowing the thoughts to stir wildly in my mind, I can do the next thing with the strength that God gives to me. Piece by piece, He is shaping my life into something that brings Him glory.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. ~Psalm 28:7