BATTLING WORRY

Think back to the beginning of this year. Despite previous failures, many of us made New Year’s Resolutions. This year would be different, we reasoned. Little did we know just how different!

Churches, restaurants, stores, and schools closed. Stock market earnings flattened. Gas prices diminished. Meetings and flights were canceled. And masks and toilet paper became the leading consumer must-haves.

Social distancing, now known as physical distancing, became our mantra. We obeyed one-way aisles and six-feet markers in grocery stores and elsewhere.

We may never know whether every bit of information about the pandemic contained news-you-can-use or added an over-sensationalized tidbit. With reality seeping into blurred lines, truckloads of worry moved in like caravans.

The textbook definitions of worry include words like anxiety, unrest, focusing our minds on our troubles, and concern. There’s a secondary, interesting definition having to do with the use of dogs or carnivorous animals’ teeth for tearing, gnawing, or dragging objects. Who knew?

Is worry more prevalent in this day and age than at any other time in history? The short answer is no. Why? The Bible lists more than one hundred verses on the topic! God knew our need to win the battle worry would wreak in our minds then and now.

Here are a few worry-relievers:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7, ESV)

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7, ESV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27, ESV)

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (Matt.6:27, ESV)

A couple acrostics I devised when my mind seems bent on wallowing in Worry Land are:

Who

Offers

Relief (and)

Revives

You?

 

Just

Empty

Stress

Upon (our)

Savior

Using your tried and true verses from God’s word, see what acrostics you can come up with. Then, the next time you feel prone to wade into Worry Land, arm yourself with God’s promises to you.

By Amre Cortadino

To leave a comment, please click on the title above, BATTLING WORRY, and scroll down. Thank you!  🙂

 

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Dinah Papagni
Dinah Papagni
3 years ago

what you state is appropriate and it makes me wonder the reason why I hadn’t looked at this in this light before. Your article truly did turn the light on for me as far as this particular issue goes. Well done.

Valerie Cullers
3 years ago

Thank you!

Kathy McKinsey
3 years ago

You have some of my favorite verses.:)

Linda Center
3 years ago

Hi Amre,
To good not to share. Here’s an add on, Do you know how to find God in Worry Land? Turn right and go straight! ?

Donna Hues
Donna Hues
3 years ago

Such a well-written article. Lots of faith nuggets to be mined. The longer our “new way of life” continues, the more agitation I witness in society. The National Day of Prayer was held yesterday and I wondered how many fearful people will turn to the Lord. Jesus is our life-preserver for all the trials of life. We simply need to take hold of Him and stay connected. It’s His world and He promises to remain in control, calm our fears, and grant us His peace.

Patti Shene
3 years ago

Oh man, Amre, this post could not have appeared in my inbox at a more appropriate time for me. IN addition to COVID-19 concerns, I have something else on my plate (that I will share privately). Thank you! Thank you!

Be blessed and stay safe!

Mary Pat Johns
3 years ago

Oh, I loved this one! A poignant reminder of Who holds our peace. Thank you for sharing.

Dave
Dave
3 years ago

Call me crazy, but if we outlive this pandemic, I vote for keeping the one-way aisles.

Sharon K. Connell
3 years ago

The portion of Scripture I always fall back on is this from Luke 12.

22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?

25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?

26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?

27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Good blog, Erma

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