Look up....

Nobody is immune.  We all feel it.  We all suffer from it.  We all make decisions based on it.  Worry.  It’s everywhere.  We worry about out jobs, money, relationships, what others think of us, what we think of ourselves, the future, the past….the list is endless.  As I type this, I’m being tested, literally.  Text messages coming in that cause me a great deal of stress and worry.  My mood literally changes because worry tends to have the power of taking over your life and thoughts.  So, if we all struggle with this, what can we do about it?!  I know when I am faced with a problem; I have to break it down into small manageable parts.  Walk with me for a minute.

I found a few verses that speak to worry that really hit home for me.

Matthew 6:25, 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? NIV

Matthew 6:34, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.  NIV

Philippeans 4:6, Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all He has done. NLT

What can we take from these?  Don’t look back at the past, it can’t be rewritten.  Don’t look beyond the present into the future because it has yet to been written.  Don’t look around and compare yourself with others.  Look up at the only thing that matters.  Worry is pretty pointless when we’re looking up at God.  We need to pray to our Father about what is on our minds, what is causing us stress and worry, spill our guts to Him.  After all, He already knows everything.  We just need to confide in Him and trust Him to provide what we actually need, not just what we think we need or want.  

I know this sounds like a really cheesy simple answer.  But, I’ve found that with God at the wheel, everything is easy, it’s the trusting Him that’s hard.  I know I could improve in this area, can you?

Funks and Resolutions...

New Year…new resolutions, right?  I’ve never been one to make resolutions.  Mostly because I could never stick to them, so to avoid failure, I stopped making them.  Brilliant, I know!  This year is a little different though.  A personal funk has brought about a new resolve for the New Year.  

The past few months have been rough for me.  I’ve been challenged, felt down and defeated, frustrated and somewhere along the way I’ve lost my confidence.  In conversations with friends, I know I am not alone in this personal battle right now.  I have been praying for help and direction on how to get out of this mess for a while now.  The past few days, I’ve received some answers.  First, the series at church is about digging in and overcoming obstacles.  Hello.  Right on time.  Then, I happened to read 2 things today that helped me, so I am going to share so that it might help you too.  

First, leave it to Jon Acuff to put a great spin on feeling like you aren’t hearing God (http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2012/01/the-beautiful-reason-god-might-not-be-talking-to-you-right-now/).  Thank you Leverage Community for the great post on Facebook!  I never got that out of reading the prodigal son parable, even though, I studied a whole book on it once.  I found it comforting and just knowing that Mr. Acuff stuggles with the same things I do helped.

Second, 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself (http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/11/30-things-to-stop-doing-to-yourself/) was posted by my friend, Lisa, on Facebook and I read it.  There are some of the typical things like, stop living in the past or stop letting people get you down.  There were a few that stood out to me but one of the 30 literally jumped out at me.  This is my resolution.

29. Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen - Focus on what you do want to happen.  Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story.  If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.

This, unfortunately, is one of my character flaws.  I focus on the negative.  I always have.  It’s not that I don’t see the positive things, I do – but the negative things or the things I fear are always trying to take the place of the sunshine and happiness I’m seeing.  For example, I have an AMAZING boyfriend who actually really likes me and instead of focusing on that, I get scared that I’m going to lose him.  This is the wrong thing to do.  Instead, I need to focus on our future, because it is certainly full of sunshine and happiness.  

Easier said than done.  It’s easy to worry about things, what will happen if my heat breaks, what if I lose my job, what if I don’t like my new hair cut, what if they don’t like me….I could go on and on.  These thoughts only lead to assumptions and those assumptions are likely wrong.  When all you see is negative your world will become dark.  God is light.  Let the light in, it’s what He wants for us!  

My resolution: Pray for light to shine bright in my life and to stop focusing on what I don’t want to happen and start focusing on what I do want to happen.  Stay tuned, I think 2012 is going to be a great year.  I will find my confidence in my faith, myself, and my relationships again.  I am resilient, after all, God made me this way!