My Last Two Cents by Abby Kelly

“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Overnight, the government shut down. I woke up to the newsflash blinking on my cellphone. Not a comforting, “sunny-side-up” realization in the midst of the tumultuous tide of world headlines. As world powers are collapsing like feeble decks of cards, and the newspaper whitespace is replaced by stories of genocide, revolt, coups and nuclear weapons, it’s hard not to worry. My husband is in the Army, what if we don’t get paid? It’s difficult not to tinge my conversations with uncertainty, anxiety and resignation. With my heart still aching from the discouraging headline, I opened the Bible for my morning quiet time. The story of the poor widow casting her last two pennies into the offering gave me pause. For the first time, it brought to mind 1 Peter 5:7 and the command to cast all my anxiety on Jesus, the one who cares for me. Those last two pennies were all that remained of her best efforts to support herself. Each time she looked at them, anxiety probably rose in her throat, How could she make these last? What would she do when they were gone? Another widow, in Luke 8:43, touched Jesus’ robe with faith to be healed after vainly spending all she had on doctors. 

One widow gave away her last two pennies; another reached for Jesus when everything else was gone. I must learn to cast my last vain efforts, my final strains of worry on Jesus. He cares for me. 

Abby Kelly blogs about the excitement of knowing Jesus on her blog, Predatory Lies. Read her new book Surviving the Predatory Lies of Anorexia for free in exchange for a review. Contact