Last week, I shared with some people (and I think either posted on here or commented on someone else's blog) about my desire to get back into the habit of memorizing Scripture. I'm happy to report that I knocked out 2 verses last week: Philippians 4:6-7. I chose these because I often don't do what they say.
For much of my life, I have struggled with worry and anxiety, even when I can't exactly pinpoint what I'm anxious about. For example, I woke up a couple of mornings last week earlier than planned feeling very nervous and anxious, but for no particular reason. I also do pretty well worrying about specific things too. If there is any type of genetic link to worrying, I'm sure there's some in my family- my mom worries, her mom worried, my grandfather on my dad's side worries, etc. For a while, I just took this to be part of my personality and tried to deal with it.
But, at some point, I realized that if Scripture tells me to act in one way and I'm acting in a different way, I'm sinning. Plus, my worry is demonstrating unbelief in God's sovereignty and goodness- if I believe He's truly in control and loves me, what's the point in worrying? He promises to work things out according to His will and reminds me how my worries don't "help" Him in carrying out His plans. For some odd reason, I seem to have no trouble trusting in God for my eternal security, yet struggle to trust Him when it comes to details of my life and those I care about.
Perhaps some of you may be disappointed to know that I don't have an easy, 4-step outline to stopping worry and anxiety. If I did, I certainly would have applied it by now. All I can do is trust God, rely on Him daily, turn to Him regularly, by grace seek to defeat the temptation to worry and be thankful for His forgiveness when I fall short. We all have our thorns in the flesh that we must struggle with and battle, lest we think we're more spiritual than others. That always takes me back to Romans 7, where I see how struggling by God's grace is a part of life. I feel like I've made some progress over the last few years and I'm really thankful for that. But my hope and prayer is that I will continue to move forward and be able to trust God that much more as I grow more mature and closer to Heaven.
-JRO
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2 comments:
I have the same problem. When I'm not worrying about a specific thing, then I'm worrying about how long it will be before there's something to worry about again. I think it could be genetic - my mom is the same way.
If we worry, and thus "prepare" ourselves for bad news, then we must feel like it will be easier to handle. I'm not sure that's true. Plus, the downside is that if we worry all the time, we can't find any pure joy in a single moment.
I enjoy reading the "worry passages" in the Bible, and I find a lot of comfort in knowing God tells us not to worry. It's still a hard thing to submit to all the time, even though I read a quote once that 90% of the things we worry about never happen.
JRO, your blog was well said. Reading thoughts such as yours reminds us all about Philippians 4:6. It also reminds us that we are not alone with our problems. We all worry. And we should all turn to God and remember that we shouldn't. Thanks for sharing.
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