The Words On My Refrigerator I Read When I'm Worried

Whenever I open my refrigerator (which is A LOT!! I have three little kids!), these are the words that I see. They’re printed small, snipped out of a bulletin from years ago and taped up to the corner.

Heads up, mamas. This little snippet was written in 1593! If your brain is turning mushy, like mine, from years of cleaning poop out of rugs and other equally stimulating ventures, then you’ll have to think a little as you read it. It might be painful, but stick with me. It’s good for you! 

Heidelburg Confession, Question 1.

“Q: What is your only comfort in life and death?

“A: That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 

"He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head;  indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. 

"Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.”

I love this question so.

I feel like a bit of a liar answering at first… “My only comfort..”? I have many comforts. I am comforted at healthy check-ups, and good test results, and kids getting over their sicknesses and obeying me and everything going just exactly as I wish it.

Until it doesn’t.

I cling to these lines - I am not my own. I am my Father’s. He bought me, He paid for my sins, He preserves my life (my children’s lives) to the degree that not even the hairs on the bathroom floor have been unnoticed, unplanned.

What shall we say in response to this? If God has given up his own Son, how will he not also give us all things? (Romans 8:31)

Father, may we have the strength, the wisdom, to trust in you, to put in your hands what belongs to you anyway - our lives, our children’s lives, our futures. Thank you that you not only hold these things, but are gracious and kind, too. We love you.

Jessica

“Smartter” Each Day