Now, There’s a Thought

4 A ANSWERS 1. Germany. 2. Destiny’s Child. 3. Japan. 4. Red Dwarf

QQUICK

QUIZ 1 Who did England beat in the final to win the Women’s Euro 2022 football championship? 2 Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams were members of which girl group? 3 Which country’s national flag comprises a red circle on a white background? Craig Charles played spaceship crew member Dave Lister in which TV comedy? 5 Who wrote the novel The Famished Road? 6 Which Dutch artist painted The Night Watch?

5. Ben Okri. 6. Rembrandt.

by Modupe Ogunniyi

Don’t let worry be an uninvited guest

IF you’re anything like me, you do a good job of pushing

worries to the back of your mind. Right now, one of those worries is the cost of living crisis. It’s an underlying anxiety that many people are living with, and one that is continually brought to our attention by headlines about price increases. I try to focus on being grateful for the energy support scheme and other help available but, like an uninvited guest, this crisis remains on the peripheries of my thoughts.

Anticipation anxiety functions in this way. We can hope things will work out, but the niggling fear of ‘What if it doesn’t?’ remains. It’s understandable.

The Christian response would be: ‘Just trust God.’ But truths about God can comfort us only when they move from head knowledge and into our hearts. We can hope I’ve learnt that it’s easier to trust when I have proof, so when doubt kicks in things will and fear wishes to cripple, I recall my experiences of God providing for me – for work out example, when I worried about how I’d afford my mortgage. Whenever I feel anxiety starting to rise, I remind myself of words that Jesus spoke: ‘Look at the birds in the sky! They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in Heaven takes care of them. Aren’t you worth much more than birds?’ (Matthew 6:26 Contemporary English Version). My love for this verse runs so deep that I bought myself a bird pendant to remind myself not to worry.

Whether it’s the pendant or a memory from the past, I have many things to draw faith from. They all remind me that I can trust God, regardless of what looms around the corner.

Anyone can experience that support from God. We can all rely on him, whatever tough times we may be experiencing right now. There’s no need to push our worries to the back of our minds. We can give them to God and trust him to help us through.