Don't worry, be faithful!

I heard a story recently, I can't remember where I heard it, could have been online but it got me to thinking about how worry overcomes us. It was something like this... It was about a patient in a mental ward of a hospital and the nurse came in to check on him and saw that he had a cup holding it up to his ear and pressed to the wall. She asked him what he was doing and he told her to come listen, so she did. A few seconds later the nurse said "I don't hear anything." And the patient said, "Yeah I know it has been like that all day!"

So true, huh? I am a worrier! I have really been concentrating very hard lately not to worry. With so many things in my life crazy, I was beginning to wonder if maybe this is "normal life". Worry is apart of our world and our everyday lives. But as I have studied "worry" lately, I realized that worry is of this world. We tend to worry, just as we are all sinners and are not perfect. We worry about what is said. We worry about what isn't said. We worry about what hasn't happened or about what is going to happen. We worry about our futures and even linger with the worries of our pasts.

I haven't had the life that I hoped that I would have by now. My husband is in prison. I had to quit homeschooling because I had to take on several new roles in my home, therfore my children are away from me all day long. (Which somedays is fine!) My brother is overtaken by an awful addiction that I feel helpless over. I just want to take it away! Oh and boy I could go on and on. But why? You get it!

As soon as my husband left almost 3 years ago I started to have awful stomach pains, almost immediately. Here I was a lowly Mother of 4 children all alone. Of course I knew that I was not alone, none of us are. God our Father is always here with us! But all of a sudden I had to do everything around here. Ugh! (I've become quite handy with the power tools! grin!) The day in and day out sort of things, but geez it was a load! I won't go into all the details, you get it! Just this year I decided to go to the doctor to see if my stomach pains were something really bad because they sure felt really bad! Thankfully, everything turned out fine. All the tests came back perfect. I am a perfectly healthy 35 year old woman. Yay! But why in the world was my tummy aching so badly? The doc said stress! You think?!

This is when I realized that I really hadn't given it all totally over to Him! And yes this is a work in progress. I started reading alot about different things regarding stress management. Whatever! Then I really started digging deeper into my daily Bible time. And almost like the words were popping out at me, everything I read in the Bible related to me! Me! I could put myself in every verse I read. Ever have one of those "a-ha" moments? I finally got it and am still getting it! I pray everyday and give my worries over to Him. Not to say things are perfect and fixed but now I just give it to my Lord! He bears my burden! So why should I? My tummy still has it's moments but not near as bad as before. So, I still have some work to do!

When I googled "worry" the other day I found this statement. "Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere." Hhhmmm! So true! I had to print that one out and put it on my desk right on top of that stack of bills waiting to be paid! grin!

So, I am faithfully trying to do what the good book says to do with all of my life ....Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7 or another version says "Casting the whole of your care (all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all) on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully."