No Worries

What does it mean to not worry?

I am, by nature, not a worrier. It drives my wife crazy sometimes. I have lived a very blessed life and I am sure that has played a very big role in my lack of worrying. I haven’t had anything truly awful ever happen to me. I haven’t had deep hardship. I have had bad things happen in my life. I have made some truly bad decisions in my life. Those things have had consequences that have hurt me, cost me financially, cost me personally, cost me friends, and more, but worry hasn’t really played a big role in any of them.

But most of all I have been raised to trust God in all circumstances, and I do this.

Philippians 4:6-7 says: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NASB)

I live by this. These are verses that live in my heart all the time. I pray about things all the time. I let God know what I am thinking; the concerns I have about circumstances, the praises I have about things in my life, stuff my family is dealing with, school related matters, whatever is on my mind. That communication allows for my freedom from worry. I know that He is taking care of it.

Don’t get me wrong I have grown into this. I used to worry more when I was younger. I can remember being worried about tests/exams in school. I can remember worrying about what people thought of me at times. I would say this is one area where I may still “worry” at times about, but I know that I don’t need to worry about any of these things.

I had to learn to not worry. I had to learn to give it all to God and allow Him to take that burden from me. And it works. I am a happy and joy-filled person. You can ask just about anyone, and they would say that I am that way most of the time. Sure, I have my bad days, we all do, but generally I am all good.

What is the benefit of worrying? I see people that worry and all I see are people that aren’t happy. They aren’t joy-filled. They are always looking for the next shoe to drop, or the next person to disappoint them. They are worried about things they can’t control. You can control yourself and how you react to situations you can’t control someone else. You can try, but that leads to the worry that they won’t do what you wanted them to do the way you wanted them to do it. And where does that get you? It creates anxiety in the worrier and the people they are worrying about. That can cause tension and then relationships can be strained, or fights can occur, or relationships can be fractured. I know that I don’t want that to happen, do you?

I have heard some people say that worrying about things makes them more practical. They are thinking about all the possible things that could go wrong and therefore they can prepare for those things if they happen. Where is the joy there? It sounds to me like a great way to not enjoy things, or not enjoy the preparation for doing something. If you are going to worry about all the things that MIGHT go wrong what does that do for your joyful anticipation for the thing? I see that joy going away, or never being present. And when you give it to God and trust Him to work it out to His glory then you can know that whatever happens is what He willed.

As you may have read on an earlier blog of mine about our families last big trip we had an issue come up between Singapore and Australia. I was stressed, big time. But I wasn’t worried. I knew we would get out of the country, eventually. You can ask my wife, I was so irritated about the situations, but I wasn’t worried that it wouldn’t get worked out, eventually. I prayed and asked God to work it out. I asked that He would get us to Australia by a certain time so we wouldn’t miss the Great Barrier Reef (making requests known part of those verses). I trusted that it would happen, and it did. It didn’t have to work out. I am sure I would have been very irritated if that would have occurred, but worried, I don’t think so. We were safe, we were healthy (well one of us had a cold), and I knew I could trust God. That is what those verses above area all about. They are about being thankful in all circumstances. Was I thankful while it was happening? Well not while dealing with the flight people, but I was thankful for the flight we got onto, I was thankful in the moment that my wife was able to work with the airlines while I went and talked the girls about how it would be all ok in the long run, and I was thankful that God gave me inner peace (another part of those verses) during that time.

I am sure that some of you out there think, “Well, once something really bad happens to him, let’s see how he reacts.” I get that, but I would say that by building my life on Jesus in all circumstances now I am preparing myself to rely on Him when the truly bad stuff does happen. It doesn’t mean there won’t be pain, heartache, sorrow, and even worry, but I hope, pray and believe that I will be able to give it to God more easily because of this foundation I have. By building the routine of not worrying in the “little” things in day-to-day life now I will have better platform to work from when the “big” things occur. I guess you can think of it like having an emergency fund for when something breaks around your house. The more you save the bigger the issue you can deal with when it happens. Maybe this is a bit like that. I am building up a “security blanket” of ability to not worry and giving all things to God now so that when I really need it I am prepared for it, and I will just keep doing what I have always been doing. (maybe not the best analogy, but as I re-read it I like it).

*Side note. This doesn’t mean I am not concerned about things. I am. There are things in my life that I think about and wonder, “what is going to happen with…?” or “If … doesn’t get better, what is going to happen?” But I don’t let those concerns turn to worry. I think worry is something that is deeper. I think it penetrates into one’s soul. It can permeate one’s life and effect other aspects of their life. I don’t think concerns do that. Concerns can lead to planning, but still allow for that joy to exist in the circumstance, and worry doesn’t do that.

Give it a try people. Give your worries to God. He doesn’t care how big or small they are. He can handle them all. He wants to handle them all. If you are a worrier, I challenge you to truly give those worries to God, and see what He can do with it.