When we adopted Ginger, they told us she is a Miniature Pinscher/Jack Russell Terrier mix, but we think there’s some Chihuahua mixed in. And like a Chihuahua, she tends to shake when she’s cold, or nervous, or wants Taco Bell.

At a rest stop on the way home from visiting family this Thanksgiving, I was petting and talking to Ginger as she stood in the boot of our car, shaking. I told her that she doesn’t need to shake so much, that she doesn’t need to shake at all. And as soon as I said that, I realized that God has been trying to tell me the same thing when I worry. And as my dog continued to shake, I thought about God’s patience with me as I continue to worry.

I worry, a lot. I worry about all sorts of things that I don’t need to worry about, because I don’t understand why I don’t need to worry about them. And every time, God pets my head and tells me that I don’t need to worry. In Philippians 4:6–7 (New International Version), Paul wrote

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The first verse is the instruction, and the second verse is the promise. And the part that tells us that the peace of God transcends all understanding, that helps us to accept the promise. I think about my dog shaking in the back of a car in a strange place, and how much she is unable to understand about her situation. I think that we must be a lot like her, not able to understand why we are here or why things happen. But unlike my dog, we can know that we don’t need to understand God’s peace in order to accept it.