Yesterday I woke up with anxiety. I have it really all the time, but especially when I have an event ahead of me. In two weeks, Personal Pep Rally is having a Tailgate on the River in North Little Rock. I am very uncomfortable about it. In Stuttgart, I know everyone; I have hundreds of volunteers. In Little Rock, I have to rely on others. To be honest, I may look calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside, I am a nervous wreck. I have many “dipping moments” before the event happens.
But like always, God shows up. It may be in a scripture, on an Instagram page, a friend, or through a message, but He always shows up.
As I sat drinking my coffee, I read my bible app, then shared the scripture for the day on my story. It was then that this man, Dr. Russell, showed up. I don’t even follow him, but here he was. He is a doctor who grew up in Saint Charles, LA. He served in the military, worked at a hospital in Baton Rouge, earned a degree, then attended NYU, and is triple board-certified. His story is one of countless challenges. He told a story of how, one night, he was on the train going home from NYU. It was cold, bills were piling up, and with a child to raise, he was ready to quit. On the train that night, he called his friend back in Louisiana. It was that friend from back home who wasn’t going to agree with him wanting to quit.
His friend told him, “Hush, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Doing what you are supposed to do. When you are doing what you are supposed to do, it should be difficult. God had other places for you to go and other things for you to do. You couldn’t grow in the soil you were in. It was the right soil when you were beginning, but you need different soil for what you are doing now. I don’t know why God picked you, but He picked you. Everyone back home is praying for you. Didn’t you ask people to pray for you, and you got what you prayed for? You are wasting my time with this phone call”
Dr. Russell was having a dipping moment. These moments come with the territory. We let our minds go to that stinking thinking, and we begin to tell ourselves this isn’t what we are supposed to do; we get anxious; we worry it won’t go as planned or that people won’t show up. We go down rabbit holes that we are not to go down.
I completely understand. I often ask whether I am really supposed to be doing this, with having degrees in education and literacy, and now I encourage those families with cancer.
You may be in a dipping moment right now. You may be going down rabbit holes doubting where God has placed you. I am here to share with you: don’t go there. Dipping moments Satan loves, but God has the final say.
To go along with this, the scripture for the day was Psalm 121. It was written to show us how we can depend on God for help. It was for pilgrims who were traveling through lonely countries to their destination. They are protected not by anything created, but by the one who created everything.
I lift my eyes to the mountains; where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
We must take steps and travel. It may be difficult; we will have dipping moments, but we must depend on God, and He will watch over us.
To make it easier to stay away from dipping moments, remember:
Start every day in His word.
Serve others
Fill your cup first, because you must fill your cup before you fill others’.
As Father Mike says, “You pray for me; I’ll pray for you.”
As Tara Leigh Cobble says, “He’s where the joy is.”
And from me, “Cupcake loves you, but so does Jesus.”
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