Turn your Cares list into a Prayers list

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

For a person with a to-do list mentality it is very easy to get overwhelmed with what needs to be done. Often my lists include today, tomorrow, next week and next month issues. While sometimes it’s necessary to note events for scheduling purposes, to dwell on everyone all at once can be exhausting.

Another helpful quote from Grief Share was to turn your cares list into a prayers list. The program encourages you to write down all the things that concern you, cause you fear and bring stress into your life. Things that you think you can handle and those you know you cannot. Then turn them into a prayer list.

In the Bible, Hezekiah was facing a vast enemy that was threatening to destroy the nation. The enemy tried to break the confidence that the people had in the Lord by telling them not to let Hezekiah persuade them to trust the Lord, but rather make peace with the enemy. They wrote a letter boasting of their victories in other battles, promising to do the same to them, then sent it to Hezekiah to cause fear and submission. But rather than fret and worry over the pending letter of doom, he laid it out before the Lord and prayed. The Lord responded by soundly defeating the enemy for them.

We are encouraged to do the same. Write out all your cares and then go before the Lord, lay they out and pray over them. This takes them out of our incapable hands and places then in the more than capable hands of the Lord. Just sharing them with Him brings a measure of peace. Then watch and see what He will do.

He may fight the battle for you or He may give you the strength and wisdom to stand and fight, always in His presence. He may remove the problem or even give you a different perspective to see it as He does, which might make it a blessing rather than a curse.

Making your cares list into a prayers list is a victory in and of itself because by doing so, you have decided to trust in the Lord rather than on your own understanding, and in doing that He will make your paths straight.