A Remedy for Worry

Everyone tends to worry. It robs us of peace and joy. Worry steals our hope. Our good Shepherd knows how worry creates adverse effects upon our health. Jesus advises, “Do not worry about your life… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”(Matthew 6:25-27).

How do we not worry when we’re facing a deadline? When a car payment is due and finances are tight. When our children make foolish choices. When we receive a gloomy medical report.

What is worrying you?

Several years ago my 18-year-old daughter planned to move out of the house on the heels of high-school graduation. I worried! Worry caused me to imagine awful scenarios. I lost sleep. I rehearsed a plethora of “what ifs.” Worry dragged me around by the neck and choked my faith.

No Reason to Give In or Give Up

About 92% of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital. Statistics prove that if more people knew CPR, (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), it can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.

Christians are especially at high risk. Distractions, worries, fears, and doubts attack our faith-- always aiming to destroy our spiritual life. These deadly adversaries can be stopped!

Our Lord offers to rescue us with spiritual CPR: Courage, Power and Rest. With His spiritual CPR, nothing is too difficult to handle. Without it, we’ll struggle to make it past today’s first hurdle.

Courage/to trust God daily
It takes courage to trust God. Courage to stop trying to figure out everything on our own. Courage to stop peering into the future to plan for every possibility. Courage to listen to God’s voice in everything we do, everywhere we go. Courage to trust God to keep us on track. (Philippians 3:12-14 MSG)

What Do You REALLY Need?

My needs change daily. Friends tell me I need to go on a cruise. Compelling online messages inform me I need the newest spring fashions, Botox, a steak dinner, a massage, and better toys and apparel for my pet!  Last week, peering out my window, I complained, “I need sunshine!”

Sound superfluous? How about these needs expressed by women friends? “I need the man of my dreams, a baby, more intimacy with my husband, friendship, healing, a successful ministry, more money.” Needs are as numerous and diverse as people in the world.

What do you really need?
                                                                                                                                                         

Many years ago, I discovered a shocking truth in God’s Word: “I lack nothing!” (Psalm 23:1) Because God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-caring; He is enough. He is sufficient. With Him I need nothing else! (Psalm 73:25-26)  So, why do I sometimes become burdened, sometimes driven, by an “I need” mentality?