Moment by Moment...

My moments have flown by since returning to Costa Rica after the intial havoc of the Polar Vortex. Moments morphed into minutes, minutes into hours, and now, I need to write how each moment outside my home culture has led to a great understanding of who I am (eye opening, really), why I am here( on this Earth, existing) and that having a relationship with the God of Creation doesn't exempt me from day to day struggles or victories--it  allows me to realize I am not alone.

Many of you may or may not know that I used to worry alot.  I remember the season in which I realized that although I have moments of  worry, fear, and downright terror, it doesn't lurk in my mind continuously. The "what if's " that used to lurk in my subconscious in the good ol' USA are completely foreign to the land I now live in. For instance:

Dealing with two cars that are completely dead and,upon closer look, have no batteries which is why any attempt to start them is useless.

Dead snakes in the dining room...and believe me, that was a first. Living, breathing albino lizards in the washing machine, which appeared lifeless until  my gloved hands tried to remove them -

Inability to put money in the bank and or take money out(remember, money talks in this part of the world. Cash is a necessary commodity, but just keeping it around for a rainy day isn't necessarily a great idea.

And the downright depressing reality of why I was unable to unlock the strangely appearing lock on my ancient, but functioning, Nissan Sentra? Everything in that trunk was no longer there--especially the items I was searching high and low for--my Doppler, my hubby's good Littmann stethoscope, and everything else- which I realized during clinic this Tuesday) was in my well-worn clinic bag--

You see, worrying or even thinking that any of the above events were possible truly was unimaginable. And suddenly the Scriptural reality of Matthew 6 became clear. Not that treasures on Earth will be moth and vermin-destroyed (true) or stolen by thieves(true)....but that worrying about the next moment-or tomorrow adds nothing to today. And tomorrow will have enough worry (or JOY!) for itself!

Do Not Worry (Matt. 6:25-34)

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.