What’s wrong honey? Sarah looked across the room at her husband Mike who had a look on his face she’d only ever seen a few times and neither of those times were good. He had just gotten home from work and looked as if he’d seen a ghost. He walked straight into their bedroom without saying one word to answer or even acknowledge her question for that matter. She knew something was wrong and was almost even afraid to ask, but she knew they needed to deal with whatever it was head on. Sarah walked to the bedroom trying not to be upset at the fact that her question was blatantly disregarded. By the time she stood in the doorway, she managed to utter the words honey whatever it is, know that I love you. At this point Mike was sitting on the edge of the bed, with his head in the palm of his hand. He was clearly distressed. Finally, he said, I got let go today from work. Covid cuts. Sarah stood there in silence as her mind started racing to all the things they relied on his paycheck to cover. What did this mean for their mortgage? What about the kids’ school fees? Insurance, car notes?  She worked a job too but one income would not be enough to sustain them. Not even close. With 3 children, 2 cars, credit card bills and student loans, this would cripple them.

We’ve all been in a situation that called for us to worry. Whether it’s like Sarah’s story with a loss of a job in our household, whether it’s some other financial issue – perhaps you are working but the money is just not enough to make ends meet all the time and it brings about stress & anxiety every month. Whether it’s more of a health scare for you or someone you love. Maybe you were just diagnosed with an ailment or someone close to you was admitted into the hospital. Perhaps you’re worried about your appearance – what you look like on the outside, if you’ll ever be accepted. For some of us, we’re worried about our marriages. Communication is down, our sex lives have dried up, we’ve experienced a loss of trust. There’s no shortage of places to find where worry is looking to settle and take up residence. And quite sadly, it does just that. Settle.

Worry settles in our mind, in our hearts; it alters our mood, our day, our decisions. We start losing faith and in some cases start formulating our Plans B-Z instead of doing what we are instructed to in  Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done”. We’re told to not worry about literally anything. But instead to pray about everything, to tell God the things that we need and then to thank Him for what He has done. 

But for many of us, just praying isn’t enough. If we’re really honest with ourselves, sometimes, either we lack the faith to believe that something actually will happen or we don’t have the time to wait to see what God will do. The problem with this method is that it places the entire brunt of the situation on you. When we take matters into our own hands we’re literally taking on the matter, and all the stress & worry that comes along with it into our own hands. And usually, tagging right along with worry is his best friend, fear. Worry and fear go hand and hand like cake and icecream, bow and arrow, lock & key and the Bible tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.

It’s hard to have a sound mind when you’re worried. Worry causes you to get almost in a state of desperation, where you’re willing to do or try even some once considered outrageous solutions. Irrational thoughts now become rational and sound decisions tend to go out the window.

When you entertain worry in your life, it exposes a lack of faith & a forgetting of who God is. Extended constant worry is evidence that we have forgotten God.  Now I can imagine some of you might be saying how can we ever forget God? And my response would be, because we’re human and as humans, we have a tendency to forget certain things.  If you ever took notice, I realized something in the Bible and it’s the many times in scripture we see the phrase, Do this in remembrance of me. Now why would that be necessary to say all the time? It’s because God knows, as humans, sometimes it’s easy to forget. This is why it’s so important to stay in your Word constantly and bind it to your heart. To have a daily reminder of the promises and the will of God so that when situations come up that invite worry, we have a hope we can hold on to. We can say in confidence that God has never left me nor will he leave neither forsake me. We can declare that God knows the plans He has for my life. Plans to prosper me and not harm me, to give me hope and a future.

We live our day to day lives experiencing a myriad of different things and each trial and each difficulty presents another opportunity to showcase our faith and trust in God even though sometimes it’s not easy. For some reason worrying seems to come naturally alongside the cares of life but choosing not to worry is just that – a choice – an intentional conscious decision that we have to make every single day.

Matthew 6:25-34 says “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? 26 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? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

I encourage you all under the sound of my voice to remember who God is. Remember that he opens doors, closes doors, makes a way out of no way, He is a sustainer, a provider, a lawyer, a healer, a savior, a friend and a loving Father. He says to cast your anxiety on him because he cares for you. God does not want us living in fear, being stressed, or anxious. He wants us to experience his peace that transcends all understanding and to do this he made it very simple. He says to intentionally choose not to worry, to pray for everything, tell him what is going on in your life, talk to him, lay your burdens at his feet and then by faith thank Him for what He has already done. Choose today the peace of God and watch a supernatural change occur in your life because of that decision.