uncertainty

 Here in my little corner of the woods, the election yesterday left us facing a lot of uncertainty. It leaves us with a ton of questions about the future, both immediate and long term, and it affects a lot of the people I care about. There are a whole lot of people facing choices they never intended to make.

When you're in the middle of uncertainty, the questions seem to hang over your head like storm clouds. Your thoughts race, but they are just circling the same things over and over. It's hard to focus on anything else, despite the fact that the rest of the world with all its problems just keeps right along spinning.

But God is still good, and God is still in control. No matter what life throws at you, that doesn't change. So I'm sharing my prayer, hoping that if it is your prayer, too, you may find it helpful.

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God,

My mind is racing right now, but my thoughts aren't making any progress. I know you are in control. I can look back through the years and see without a doubt that You were in the middle of everything that seemed so uncertain and chaotic. You led us through every crazy circumstance and unexpected decision, and every step on what we saw as shaky ground was one more taken down the path You set in place for us.

But here, in the middle of the next uncertain thing, it gets hard to see that You have a plan and You are in control. No matter the circumstances, You still say like You did through Isaiah, "From the beginning I declare how things will end; from times long past, I tell what is yet to be, saying: 'My intentions will come to pass. I will make things happen as I determine they should.'" (46:10) Help me to cling to You and Your promises, to remember that You said, "When the earth and everyone living upon it spin into chaos, I am the One who stabilizes and supports it." (Psalm 75:3)

I don't have answers about the future, and You know I struggle with that. But I know that Your thoughts are not my thoughts and Your plans are not my plans (Isaiah 55:8 & 9), and I know that whatever You have laid out is far beyond anything I could plan. Help me to trust You with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Help me to rest in the knowledge that if You keep track of the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30) You are definitely paying attention and You aren't going to abandon us.

As we move forward, remind me of Your faithfulness. And as the psalmist wrote, "Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life." (143:8b)