It's Just My Imagination

Nate and I just started a marriage class on Sunday mornings.  So far, it has been amazing and we leave each week with new treasures to think about and put away for future use.  This past week we had a panel discussion on the expectations of marriage; the things that you expected your spouse to be and the things that you expected out of marriage.  It was a great discussion and there were some great questions asked.  There were questions asked about problems in marriage, about not understanding each other, about why it is so hard, etc.  Then someone asked a question about living in fear in marriage - that things were going well now, but that they lived just waiting for the other shoe to fall and things to start going bad.  How did they keep from living that way?


One of our teachers shared what a pastor had said years ago in a sermon; it had stayed with her.  I have been thinking about it for the past couple of days and I cannot remember exactly what she said, but I remember the beginning - the second part is a little fuzzy, but I got the idea.  She said,

God does not give us grace for the things that we can imagine, He gives us grace for the things that are happening right now.

Wow!  That is pretty powerful - or it is to me anyway.  I am one of the most paranoid people you will ever meet.  Most of the time I don't let it control my life, but it tends to get in the way sometimes.  I worry about things that have not happened, I sometimes think of the worst case scenario in a given situation and it can be crippling.  I know that God tells us to not worry about tomorrow, that we have no fear in Christ and all those verses telling us that we are safe with God, He is our protector and that He is in control.  I know these things, but it is hard for me to live that way.

But my goodness, when she said that in Sunday school I about fell out of my chair.  The first part of the phrase "things we can imagine or do imagine" really hit home with me.

You know when you were a little kid and you thought you saw something or you were afraid of "the monsters" in your room (maybe you weren't that kid, but sometimes I still am!) and people told you not to worry about it because it was just your imagination getting away with you.  Well that is what I plan to tell myself the rest of my life.  When I begin to worry about something that hasn't happened I'm going to pull that little nugget out and tell myself "It's just my imagination".

God gives me grace for the here and now, for what is going on in my life at this very moment and quite frankly, that is all I need.  (Now let's just hope I can actually put it into practice!) 

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Matthew 6:34