Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar's shoulders, and sent her and the boy away.  When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, "I can't bear to watch the boy die!". . . God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. Get up, help the boy up, and sustain him, for I will make him a great nation."

Hagar is one of the more tragic figures of the Bible. Brought in without her asking to an impatient situation -  to add an element of logic to God's impossible promise - she simply did as she was told, only to find herself rejected and alone.

"Lord, what else am I supposed to do but worry when my son was due in by midnight and it's now 2:45, or my two-year-old splits her chin on the garage floor? Isn't that stuff worth worrying about?" Sure it is. But God wants you to realize that he is tending to your needs - not just when your helplessness is thick and tangible - but even in those times when you feel the most in control. Remembering that you are never outside of his care will help you worry less in moments when it just feels like you are.

When fear and worry gripped her, Deena made a habit of sitting down and jotting on paper all God's past goodness in their lives. "I remind myself they're God's children, and I'm more a caretaker than an owner. He's their heavenly Father, the one who created them and promises he'll work everything in their lives for a pattern of good. And then I think of the many answered prayers, how Caitlin recovered, of the blessings that came out of difficult times." Then she's freer to open her hands and heart, lay her children and their problems before God, and experience his comforting presence.  - Cheri Fuller