Worry

Life changes are absolutely unavoidable.  And the older we get the more we realize that truth. Change creates within us an environment of discomfort. I am not saying that is a bad thing it just is something that pulls us from a comfortable spot, a place of familiarity, and launches us into a place that sometimes is threatening, is overwhelming, and life shaking.  There are times when we choose change and times when change chooses us and our choices are two: either we face it in faith or pull the covers up and try to hide from it (and that only works for a little while) and let worry invade any trifle of peace that we may have tucked away. That worry deal can create a stronghold that is pretty hard to break free of.  We worry about finances, health, our kids, our grandkids, our jobs, getting through broken hearts and broken dreams, getting older, our country etc. etc. etc. 

There are some of us who are serious worriers and can just get ourselves in a huge funk over something that has not yet even happened. While others of us have an attitude that everything is going to work out, we just need to hang on tight and ride whatever it is out. Wherever you land, at some point I am pretty sure worry has peeked its ugly head into your thoughts.  My husband sent me a devotional this afternoon about this very subject and it is so good that I have to share it. 

It is simply stated and well written by someone who I have listened to for years, and value his inpout and encouragement. He is a writer for a book called "guidelines" and His name is Harold Sala.

This is only a partial part of his total commentary, but it captures the essence of his lesson through God's truth:

I'm not suggesting for a moment that there are not times when your life may become so troubled that you need professional help.  But I am saying that God has given us resources which directly confront the issues that crease our brow.  There are no new secrets, no new mind-bending techniques that eliminate problems and frustrations in life.  There are some old, but seldom used, guidelines which we need to rediscover.

            When you have time to take a Bible concordance and look up the references to anxiety or worry, you will see that two primary spokesmen addressed the issue:  Jesus, especially in a passage of teaching which we identify as The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and the Apostle Paul.  Jesus said more about worry than all the other writers of Scripture put together.

           

             He said we are not to worry about the major concerns of life:  Your diet (what you are going to eat or drink); your body (whether or not you remain healthy); and your environmental need: what you wear and where you live (see Matthew 6:25-34). He also said that Jesus' followers should not worry about what they should say, when antagonism against them should put them in conflict with government authorities (see Matthew 10:19).  He told Martha that she was "worried and upset about many things" (Luke 10:41).

            But it was Paul, the theologian of the New Testament and the second most vocal spokesman, who drew a clear line between worry and anxiety.  What's the difference?  Anxiety, Paul taught, is concern over legitimate issues such as your health or safety or concern about your family, while worry is the persistent, nagging debilitating concern over something which robs you of peace of mind.

            Worry is a decision, a bad one which never solves anything.  There is a better way, one which you can read about in God's textbook on living. There are some great antidotes to worry, great chapters in this grand, old book, the Bible.  Try reading Psalm 23 out loud and then worry.  Read Isaiah 40, and ask yourself if God is big enough to handle your problem.  Meditate on Romans 8 and see if you don't sleep better.  There is a better solution to problems than worry.  

And there you have it.  Whatever it is that you are dealing with this day....consider giving it to God and let Him handle it.

Worry seems to be dissolved when it is immersed into a bucket of faith. But you have to make sure that bucket is filled up prayers and scripture and always accessible.

Matthew 6:25-34
[ Do Not Worry ] “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ...
Matthew 6:24-34

Dear Lord, It is easy to get overwhelmed with changes that the world instigates. One day I am  trucking along just fine and then the wheels begin to fall off one at a time. I am launched into a pile of circumstances, sometimes the fault of my own doing,  that make my comfort zone not only a distant place, but my life is turned upside down and my heavenly compass seems compromised. I need your help to separate my worry from my anxiety and the strength to forge forward in faith, knowing you not only can help but will give me peace in spite of circumstances.  Help me to take one step at a time and not let the insignificant things all bunch up to be such heavy burdens that I can hardly move.Thank you Lord for your ever loving, ever guiding attention to my life.  I cherish you so.  Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!