We are all co-dependent!

The other day I was sitting in my recliner letting the worries of the week fill me with dread again. Yes, I was falling victim to listening to how I felt and not how I should be. I looked at my cats lounging in front of the doorway that was open letting in the cool morning breezes, the birds chirping on the lawn and thinking to myself, "Wow! I'd love to live the life of a cat. Just taking long naps whenever I felt like it, lounging in the warm sun and just having no worries about anything."

Then I heard God speak to my heart. He reminded me that living the life of a cat is not worry-free. It just looks that way from the outside. He asked me to think what would happen if I didn't remember to fill their bowls with food or water. What would they do? I think they might just get a tad bit concerned if I failed to meet their needs. Yet I do every single day without fail. Whether it's first thing in the morning or at the close of my day, I refill their water with fresh, clean water and add more cat food that I know is good for them so they don't have to worry about anything.

God reminded me that despite how many times people tell us we need to be more independent, the fact of the matter remains that we are all co-dependent on someone.Even if we are financially sound, we have to depend on the banking institution where we place our money that it will be there when we need it. We are dependent on customers to buy our products; for employers to provide us a paycheck and a job; for grocery stores to stock food for us to buy. The need to depend on people is always there. Life is never worry free even if it appears that way. What we need to remember is that God understands those concerns and will address them one day at a time.

He never overfills us beyond what we can manage. Looking back at the Old Testament when the Israelites were wandering around in the desert, God provided them with daily manna. The only day He provided them with more was on Saturday evening because He didn't want them working to gather food on the Sabbath, so He provided an extra supply. He is reminding us to take things one day at a time for a reason. He didn't die that we would live our lives in despair and worry over things we can't change today. He wants us to enjoy each day with an expectation of hope for something good to happen.

When I find myself spiraling out of control, and it does happen with greater frequency than I would like, I have to remind myself of the same advice I dole out to everyone else. Can worry change your circumstances today? Do you have enough food to meet your families needs today? Do you have a place to sleep tonight? Do you have clothing to get you through today? Then anything else above and beyond that is a BONUS!

Everything we have today is based on God's blessings. We are given everything from our family, our spouses, our children, our personal belongings as gifts to use while we are here and nothing more. How often do we take these things for granted thinking we will have them all tomorrow? Because we believe and have hope we will be here tomorrow. We don't know for sure but we believe. That is the difference between the lifes of believers and nonbelievers. We walk by faith not by sight. Nonbelivers walk by sight, not by faith. Let us make sure we remind ourselves of that daily when worry and anxiety weigh heavy on our shoulders. God is simply standing there with the ultimate strength to take it from us if we would only let Him.

Let us make sure that the one thing we are today is completely co-dependent on God. He alone can provide ALL our needs.

"Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater (in quality) than food, and the body (far above and more excellent) than clothing.

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?

And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life? (Psalm 39: 5-7)

And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil or spin.

Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these (1 Kings 10:4-7)

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, 'What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or What are we going to have to wear?

For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.

But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble." ~ Matthew 6: 25-34 Amplified Bible