Looking Forward in Trust
By Mary Wilder Tileston

      What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.
      PSALMS 56:3 They commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
      ACTS 14:23

      A CONSTANT anticipation of evils which perhaps never will come, a foreboding which takes away life and energy from the present, will simply hinder and cloud the soul, and make it timid and sad. If troublous thoughts as to the future will press, darkening a bright present, or hurrying on coming clouds, the safest thing is to offer them continually as they arise to God, offering too the future which they contemplate, and asking for grace to concentrate our energies on the immediate duties surrounding us. Many have dreaded troubles which they thought must come; and while they went on ever expecting to make the turn in their path which was to open out fully the evil, lo! they found that they had reached the journey's end, and were at the haven where they would be. Even for others it is not wise to indulge in overmuch looking forward in fearfulness. Come what may to the dearest ones we have on earth, God and His upholding grace will be there, and He cares for them more than even we can do. An earnest commendation to His love will avail them more than all our fretting.
      H. L. SIDNEY LEAR