Worry, Worry, Worry: What Do You Worry About?

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

Worry, Worry, Worry: What Do You Worry About?

When my children were babies, I worried about them dying in their sleep.

When they were toddlers, I worried about them getting really sick or having a serious accident.

When they were in elementary school, I worried about my complete inadequacy as a mom and felt like I did not know how to raise my children to be Christians.

When they were in high school, I worried about them turning away from God or not following Him.

Worry, worry, worry.

What does it accomplish? Nothing! It causes sleepless nights and days filled with dread. Worry steals our joy and allows Satan to gain a foothold in our thoughts. In my life, my worry and anxiety got so bad that I got to the point of not enjoying my life and the family God had given me. When I focused on the bad things that could happen, I hardly noticed the good things right in front of me.

Jesus tells us specifically not to worry about tomorrow. I love the story that Corrie Ten Boom tells about how God gives you grace one day at a time. When someone asked her how she could have endured the persecution and suffering she went through in the German concentration camps during World War II, she said she had the unfathomable grace of God to help her.

She said when she was a little girl, she would travel on the trains with her dad quite frequently. He understood that she did not need her train ticket for their journey until right before she stepped onto the train. He gave her the ticket just at the time she needed it.

Corrie said that God’s grace is like that train ticket. We don’t get it until right when we need it. So, when we worry about tomorrow and all the things that could go wrong, we don’t have God’s grace to help us because we are not there yet. We stress and stress to no avail. It doesn’t help, and in fact, worry only hurts us. We can’t do anything about tomorrow anyway. So why not trust God for today and live in the moment?

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)

God has given us everything we need—His power in us, His word, and His grace one day at a time. He knows we want our kids to follow Him and love Him all the days of their lives. God knows we have financial, marital, or health issues. He is a good, good Father and will help us through whatever we may face!

Blessings and Love,

Deb

Go Deeper:

  • How about you? Do you worry? Be honest. Write what you worry about in your journal, then ask God to help you trust Him more, pray, and walk by faith. Find a Scripture that encourages you to trust God. For example, when my kids were little, I was worried that I had no idea how to have a Christian home and raise up kids who love God. I wrote Isaiah 42:16 on my bathroom mirror in dry-erase marker so I could focus on it every day:

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

  • That verse always brought me peace, helped me not to give up, and encouraged me to trust God to help me.

What’s Next?

When my children were little, I used to have what I called a “Worry Box.” During times of anxiety and worry, I took a moment and wrote down what I was worried about, put it in the box, and gave it to God. Every once in awhile, I would look back over all of the things I had written and was always amazed at what troubled me. I began to realize that the vast majority of stuff I worried about never came true. Now in my 50s, I find myself wanting to live by faith more and to encourage my family to do the same. Pray that you can live your life walking with God, trusting Him more, and worrying less.

 

Deb Weakly

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