Anticipation

Life is full of things people anticipate with eagerness. A birth, graduations, weddings, parties, visits, anniversaries are some of the things which we anticipate with eagerness. Not so much for some other experiences such as academic tests, physical endurance situations, medical procedures, criticism of our efforts. These things may give us a sense of dread.  What do we do with these kinds of challenges? When anticipating something we like, we look forward to it and thinking about it brings feeling of happiness. Thinking about negative experiences may bring avoidance and alarm. If something in the future fills us with dread. We can figure out various ways to avoid it, or we can refuse to allow it in our thoughts at all, closing the door of our mind to the idea whenever it tries to claim our thoughts.

Better yet, we can commit the entire issue to God.  We always can pray about the things in our lives we anticipate with dread. Our dread is not a surprise to God. He understands the reason and the issues that make us fearful or miserable. He is ready and willing to help us.  Perhaps He will empower us to conquer the problem. He might intervene and eliminate the problem some way. Or, He is always ready to walk with us through whatever we anticipate with dread.  God, give us the ability to solve problems and deal with negative or unpleasant situations.  Direct and guide us in our responses to things we anticipate with dread. Change our dread to trust in You. Thank you for walking through our troubles with us.