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.

Judging Others Can Be Hazardous!

A tattoo, covering the entire forearm of a young woman, arrested my attention. I read and reread the dark blue inky words, “God is my Judge”. An unpleasant memory triggered.

I had been judged and snubbed by close friends, those whom I trusted and had felt especially close to. I was sorely misunderstood. Now, I felt that pain, sadness and heartache prick my heart again. It rekindled an old, familiar adage: “Unless you've walked a mile in my shoes, don’t judge me!”

Until judged harshly, until false presumptions left me feeling like I had been punched in the stomach, I had failed to personally understand how wounding judgmental words are. They crush and reduce a person’s character. They ruin relationships.