Worry? Proverbs 31 OBS Blog Hop

 
This week's blog topic from Proverbs 31 OBS is on “Worry”…AND I know a thing or two about worry.  I’m betting a lot of you reading this do as well. 

Dictionary.com defines worry as: “to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.”

Torment oneself.  Suffer.  Fret.  That’s what I can do to myself sometimes.

 

I’ve heard that if you worry you don’t really trust that God can handle it.  You don’t trust God with it.  That’s hard to swallow for me.  Because I worry about my kids, my family, me, friends, etc.  But I’m in the Bible every single day.  I am a Jesus girl.  So for me to worry and then see that my worry means I don’t trust that God can handle it is hard.  UGH.

 

I am getting better about it though.  My time with God every morning is helping.  When I start to worry about something…I begin to pray.  I stop the tormenting in its tracks and give it to Jesus.  Now, I may have to give it to Jesus more than once.  But, that’s ok because it means I’m in constant communication with Jesus.  

Renee Swope says in her book, A Confident Heart, that “Worry only robs rest from you….and that Worry robs us of our confidence that God notices and cares about the details of our lives.” 

God is in control.  God is behind me, in front of me, beside me and has His hand on me in all situations.  He knows.  I have to be the one to choose to remember where He is and what He is doing.  

Our Bible verse for this week is Psalm 139:5 “You go before me and follow me.  You place your hand of blessing on my head.”  Melissa Taylor calls this a “God-Sandwich.”  I love that.  

I recently went on a trip and that is typically when worry and fear start to try and sneak in on me.  I worry about the details of our trip…from leaving, flying, reaching our destination, everything back home, the to do lists, the missing school, and the flying!  Did I mention that?  My father owned a plane when I was little.  We flew.  I used to love to fly!! I have this thing with flying now.

 

Renee Swope’s acronym comes in handy:

W…Worry

O…Only

R…Robs

R…Rest from

Y…You

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

  

In Philippians chapter 4, Paul gives us a prescription on how God wants us to handle worry.  Chapter 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Because remember God did not give us a spirit of fear…this comes from the enemy.  The enemy wants to distract us and get us to believe that God can’t handle our problems, our worries, and our fears.  We can fix all of that on our own.  But the truth is…we can’t.  Paul’s prescription is:

1.     Stop worrying

2.    Start praying

3.    Keep thanking God

Thanking God.  We can’t thank God and feel worried at the same time.  When I begin to thank God for the ability to go on vacations with my family…I start to feel a little better.  When I thank Him for the clothes I’m packing, the people watching my house and my dog, the ability to fly instead of drive 15 hours….when I start to thank Him for this I’m not as tense and afraid.  I begin to loosen up.  

I make belt bracelets.  I stamp the Word of God on pieces of metal to help me.  I’m armed with the Word.  I have God’s word on my body and when I start to get tense and worried…I see my bracelet…I stop worrying.  I start praying.  I thank God.   

This prescription: stop worrying…start praying…keep thanking God – is good medicine!