Worry Your Life Away

Faith is made up of belief and trust. Many people believe God, but they do not trust themselves into His keeping and care; consequently, they are filled with worry and fear.  Lee Roberson

No one can pray and worry at the same time.  Max Lucado

Are you worried?  Have you noticed that humans are the only living thing on earth that worries?  Animals don’t worry about where their next meal will come from or where they will build their next nest.  They don’t build a bigger nest and store food up for the year.  They go out every day and forage for food or search each year for a new place to build a nest.  Birds flying south for the winter don’t all of a sudden decide they’re not going to be snowbirds and go to Florida this year.  They don’t even pack a bag.  They just take off and God instinctively gives them the direction to go.  The interesting thing is he also provides for everything they need.

If we ever understand that worrying is not going to change the outcome, we have won half the battle.  If God has a plan for each of us and if we understand that He does have a plan, then worry should not be part of the equation.  It is like telling God that He doesn’t know what He is doing. 

It would be different if we got paid to worry.  I would be a millionaire if that were the case.  I will say that I don’t worry near as much as I used to.  There is an exercise that I do that helps me get past worrying.  I replace worry with prayer.  Every time I catch myself worrying over something I have no control over, and believe me I have no control over anything, I stop myself and change that worry to prayer.  If you practice this for a while you will be amazed at how you will soon start to pray instead of worry.       

If we understand that worry is based on fear and to overcome our fear we need to depend on God instead of our meager resources, we will begin to see Him at work in our lives.  If you are worrying, give it to God and stand back and watch Him work.        

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, at one time I could have won an Academy Award for the best worrier.  My fear of what could happen overshadowed the work You were doing in my life.  Please keep my eyes focused on You and Your Greatness.  When I turn to You in prayer instead of worrying about the outcome, You can and will do amazing things in my life.

Scripture:  “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?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:25-34