Worry Wart

What causes you to be anxious?
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 important than food and the body more important than clothes?...Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:25-27
Do not worry about what to say or how to say it? Matthew 10:19

Worry are the thoughts and images of a negative nature in which mental attempts are made to avoid anticipated potential threats. My grandpa was the world's best/worst worrier! He truly was a professional his ENTIRE life! He worried about the weather, even if it was on the other side of the US. He worried about us if we were driving, and when we were coming home. I always had to call him when I arrived. If someone in our family was sick, he would call twice a day. It was awesome in a sense that someone cared so deeply about me. But looking into it further, there was something more to his worry.

We worry about so many things in life. We worry about our future, we worry about the world around us and how it looks so bleak and depressing. We worry about how long we will have the freedoms that we now enjoy. Friday was the last day of our grading quarter. We worry about if we will get all A's. We worry about our projects that we do and tests that we take. We worry about our jobs, whether we will still have one, or when we will get one if we've lost one. We worry about finances, how will pay our bills, how we will pay off our debts, when will the value of our houses increase. When will be the stock market look brighter?

If we have children or grandchildren we worry about their health. When they have the flu, high fevers, diseases, immune problems, or accidents when and will they return to normal? We worry about their future and what schools/colleges they will attend. Who will they marry? Will they continue to have faith in how we have raised them spiritually? Will they stay out of trouble through their teen and college years?

There are THOUSANDS of reasons to worry, about ourselves and about our children!!!! But let me ask you this, of all the things that I mentioned, just a few examples; how many of those things do I have personal control of? A few...And if you worry about things in the future, how many of our worse case scenarios in our mind will actually come to pass? In reality, probably very few!

If I become anxious, have negative thoughts, what do you think is the underlying issue of worry? I lack trust in God that HE will be in control of my future, my children's future. I render HIM powerless to take care of things so I try to take it upon myself to carry the burdens of what might not be. The result is I lack joy because I am so anxious over things that I cannot control for the most part or change what happened in the past or what might not occur in the future. I am spending an enormous amount of mental energy that is pointless. The end result is I lose joy!!! Jesus' remedy for worry is found in Matthew 6:33: "But seek first HIS kingdom, and HIS righteousness and all of these things will be given to you as well." Trust in the only trustworthy one, my loving heavenly Father should replace my worry and anxiety and the end result will be that I have a peace that I can't comprehend with my finite mind!