The most influential lessons growing up were those I learned through song. If I read or heard something, I was bound to forget some or all of it! However, when those words had a tune, I not only memorized it then, but it has stuck with me all this time. I am now teaching songs like Jonah, Father Abraham, Noah’s Ark, and scripture songs like Micah 6:8, Proverbs 3:5-6, and Jeremiah 33:3 to my children.

One of the songs that was engrained in my heart since a very young age was “I Cast All My Cares Upon You” by Kelly Willard. I remember sitting in our Sunday Evening service when I was 8 years old and hearing a little girl around the same age singing this song up on stage. She had been diagnosed with cancer and her singing this song was not only a powerful testimony of the faith she had in God but was also something that vividly stayed in my heart and mind as I grew. During times of sickness, grief, uncertainty, and fear I have remembered and sung some of the lyrics as a prayer to the Lord:

I cast all my cares upon you

I lay all of my burdens down at your feet.

And anytime I don’t know what to do,

I will cast all my cares upon you.

I don’t know what you may be facing today, but I do know that you are loved and cared for far more than you can imagine. I encourage you to lay those heavy burdens you are carrying down at the feet of Jesus and allow Him to give you rest.

Suggested prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of song through which you have allowed me to learn some of the most valuable lessons. Please remind me of the truth of Your Word as I face day-to-day situations. Thank you for your great care for me. I know that I am never alone. In Jesus’ name, amen.

1.    1 Peter 5:7 (KJV).

Today’s Encounter was written by: Crystal B.