Why do We Worry??

Have you ever, while reading your Bible, read a verse or chapter that just spoke to your heart and you couldn’t help but feel convicted by the Spirit? This has happened to me on a few occasions, but a verse from one of the devotionals I read just spoke to me and I instantly felt convicted. It was as if God was standing in front of me as the stern parent who was scolding His child for doing something they knew they shouldn’t have been doing (and they knew it, too)! The verse came from the March 4th devotional in the book Jesus Calling: 

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” 

- Luke 12:25-26 (NIV)

Let me tell you… As soon as I read that verse, my heart jumped like it had been shocked. I know that I worry about quite a bit: money, my job, taking care of my daughter, my business, what I’m going to make for dinner, why I’m still single, getting to bed at a decent time… I mean, who doesn’t worry about something, right? Thinking about it though, what does worrying do? Will my worrying about not having enough money to put gas in the car magically put gas in the car? Will my worrying about whether or not I’m being a good mother all of a sudden make me this Super Mom with incredible mothering powers? I wish it did; unfortunately, that is not the case. However, what worrying about all these things DOES do is STRESS ME OUT!! Seriously, I get so worked up and anxious over something that I can’t think straight for all of the thoughts flying about in my head. Which then leads to me being physically jittery, and easily irritable. And we all know the saying, “When momma ain’t happy, NO ONE is happy!” 

Now, I get that we’re all human, and worrying seems to be something that’s hardwired into our systems. We can’t help it; at some point in our daily lives, we’ll worry about something. But if we look at the first sentence in the verse quoted above, we’re basically being asked, “ Okay, how many of you can prolong your life simply by being a worrywart?” If you can, please leave a comment so the rest of us can learn how you do it! In all seriousness though, NONE of us can. I’m sure if we could, we’d all be immortal . And since worrying doesn’t make us immortal, why do we worry about everything else? What good does that do us? Absolutely no good at all. How can we keep from worrying (or at least worrying as much as we are throughout the day)? I can think of 3 simple steps: Ask, Trust, Work.

1) ASK: When I feel myself starting to worry about something, I’ve been making more of an effort to pray and ASK GOD to bring peace to my soul. I tell Him what I’m worried about and ASK Him to take that worry and do with it what He feels needs to be done. I thank Him for removing this worry from me, easing my heart, and giving me peace of mind. 

2) TRUST: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”- Proverbs 3: 5-6 (KJV). This is my favorite verse, and I feel that it fits well with my step 2. First, we asked God to take this worry (or these worries) away from us. While you were praying for this deliverance, did you trust that He would do just that? Or did you just go through the motions and actions of praying, while still letting that worry take control of your thoughts? How can you believe that God will answer your prayers if you don’t TRUST him? It says it right there- “TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART.” Not just a tiny part of your heart, not even half of your heart. He wants you to trust Him with ALL of your heart. 

3) WORK:  I’m sure we’re all familiar with the verse, “faith without works is dead.” I believe that to be completely true. After we’ve ASKED God to remove the worry from our hearts and TRUSTED the He would answer our prayer, all that’s left to do now is WORK. How do we do that? If I prayed and asked God to take away my worries about not having enough money to last until next paycheck, I WORK on a budget to carefully manage what money I do have, and stick to it. If I ask God to take away my worry about being a good parent, I WORK on being a good mom by spending time with my daughter while still being the disciplinarian that I need to be. I don’t worry about what others may think of my parenting skills, but I WORK on being the best mom that I can be, with the help of God. We can’t do the first two steps and not show God that we’re willing to do our part as well! 

I challenge my readers to ASK, TRUST, and WORK when they feel those worries sneaking up on them. Worrying won’t add years to your life; but that added stress just might take a few away, and nobody wants to shorten their lifespans (not on purpose, anyway)! 

If this post helped you in any way, please let me know by leaving a comment down below! :)