God is bigger, and God is greater. He is powerful to protect and keep, and he can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. He sees what we can’t see, and he reaches places we can’t reach—behind doors and into hearts and minds. He grieves more deeply, and he loves further than we do. He stays awake and keeps being God when our restless bodies fall asleep.
These truths about our infinite God are my comfort when the weight of this world lands on my finite self, whether it’s the burden of personal anxieties or the cares of those I love. Sometimes the storm rages within and sometimes it rages around me, and sometimes both. I’m impacted as the heaviness settles in my heart and on my shoulders.
As I lie in bed, I feel depleted. Empty. Too tired to be articulate or pray anything lengthy, I begin to cast my cares, one at a time, simply and specifically.
I Cast My Cares
I imagine a vast expanse of water in front of me, without limits and without end. It is infinite and infinitely beautiful, not in a trite or contrived way, but truly full and full of beauty, the pure kind.
Standing at the edge, looking out and looking in, I can only see so far. But it extends farther. Farther and deeper and broader and wider. Vast and unfathomable.
My heart is heavy with anxieties that take the form of stones. These stones slow the blood flow to my veins. They impact my clarity of thought. Even my feet are slow, dragging because of the extra pounds.
In that place, leaning and looking, I hear a voice call to me, call to you, call to anyone who comes to the edge of that Sea of Mercy. It invites the sojourner to cast his stones of anxiety, his cares, into the depths of that clean, uncontaminated water and watch them sink below the surface.
Slowly, with great effort, I dig under my skin where it’s uncomfortable and hurts, and I pull out the first stone. With some effort, a twist and a tug of faith, it dislodges. Raising my arm, I answer that voice, strengthened by its song, and toss my first stone into the sea.
Then I cast another, and a third, and soon I start skipping my stones across the water creating ripples that spread in wide circles as the stones sink beneath the surface. I cast each person, each situation, the known and the unknown, the past and the future, the stones from within and the stones from without, the ones I’ve absorbed and the ones I’ve created—on him.
My heart feels lighter and my mind is clearer and suddenly, without the extra weight, I lift my feet and realize I can jump—I can dance!
And I can rest.
I wasn’t meant to carry these cares. I give them to God, one and all. They are his to hold, and I can trust him to keep them while I drift off to sleep.
Because God Cares
Whether your cares feel big or small, whether you carry few or many, listen to these words from 1 Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” God invites all of us to come and cast our anxieties on him. We don’t have to hesitate, second-guess, or wonder what he really thinks.
Listen to the reason. Because he cares for you.
He. Who? God.
He does what? He cares.
For whom? He cares for you.
You are precious to God, and he proved it when he gave his only Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Cast your cares on God because he cares for you.
Bible Verses to Read and Pray
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:17-21
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7
Katie Faris 