I Am Cared For

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7

When a friend says to you, “I care about you”, how does it make you feel? Warm and fuzzy inside? Do you feel safe? Does it make you feel at ease with what they say?

Not me.

I yearn for others to show care towards me, but when it happens something inside me makes me feel on edge. I have mixed feelings and am very suspicious about what their intentions are. Underneath all of this, I am fearful about their motives in wanting to care for me.

“My mind hardens, my spirit stiffens and I respond with a cold toughness and distrust—of them. Of myself.”

This is what one friend told me. And she is right. Why? This sense of distrust is a direct result of the abuse suffered. My friend shares…

“As a little girl, I interpreted a babysitter’s niceness as care, and it turned out to be a selfish means to get their needs met—taking my innocence and trading it for betrayal.”

What my friend writes is exactly my experience too. Maybe you have experienced something similar. Or maybe you have had a friend you thought cared about you but has betrayed you instead.

We do have someone we can turn to though who wholeheartedly loves and cares for us. What Peter is saying in this verse is that we are a matter of God’s concern. We are not alone. We don’t have to bottle up all our worries. God alone is concerned about our well-being. He wants us to be complete.

God knows when we are sad and He feels our pain. He actually cares for us and He showed this by sending His One and only Son to set us free from all that holds us back. We shouldn’t worry about how much we can burden God. He can take everything we have – all our worries and concerns, and everything we have ever faced in this life.

Something to think about…

Why not have a go at personalising 1 Peter 5:7 and re-write in your own words what you feel God is saying to you. You could also use my version and change to your own name.

Lynne, I care for you deeply. Give to me all your worries and concerns.

Something to listen to…

Cast all your Cares by Sarah Begaj

If you enjoyed reading my thoughts on today’s Bible affirmation then why not catch up on my other thoughts for previous days.