July's WOW Worship…or Worry?

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Psalm 55:22 “Cast your cares on the Lord; He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.”

Thanks for taking time out of your day for our Coffee Hour! I almost forgot about our monthly WOW, Words of Wisdom and/or Weapons of Warfare. Oh, how true it is that the Word is our greatest tool, turned weapon , in times of difficulty, times of reaching out to others, times of joy, sadness…all the time the Word is powerfully refreshing, granting a new perspective, especially if we make a habit to feast upon it! Grab your coffee and your Strand of Faith (SOF) and let’s go and talk about worry!

I am really good at minimizing this word, offering a cliché statement like, “everybody does it,” or “who doesn’t have worry?” Well, over the last several weeks, more than I care to admit, I’ve been in a constant state of worry and anxiety, finding it difficult to take a deep breath, let alone breath normal. Let me tell you, I am learning that neither of those statements actually negates this truth: that while the Bible doesn’t call worry a sin, He does grieve when we worry. Why? Because to have worry and/or anxiety as a constant companion is actually a failure to trust the “One” who loves us so much He sent His Son to die for all that I/we worry about, for every ounce of our worry and anxiety! I so wish I would have had this vision earlier of disappointing Him. I can almost see Him standing there, looking at me run around like a chicken with my head cut off, shaking his head not in frustration or anger, but in sadness, holding His hands out, asking ever so quietly, “Are you going to give me that which worries you, Evinda, that which is causing you so much anxiety?” Oh, what a visual.

I can honestly see how easy it is to get caught in a whirlpool and undercurrent of worry! Why oh why did I minimize the dangers of worry and anxiety? There is absolutely no excuse, especially since many of His promises have come alive in me in my lifetime! Well, I am guilty as charged and now because of what I know, I must choose a different way of stress management.

Let me share how I came upon these truths:

It wasn’t until I was out for my run just the other day that this hit me…nearly stopping me dead in my tracks while allowing a source of lightning of understanding pulse through to my soul. There I was, running…not very fast. As a matter of fact, my thoughts were definitely running faster than I was, felt like at the speed of lighting. Inside my head was what felt like a thousand details to tend to for our Five-year anniversary party which was just a few days away at that time and you would think the faster the thoughts came, the more I picked up speed. Normally that’s what happens…but not this time; I think a turtle would have caught up to me!

As I wrestled with several of the details, I’m sure if someone were to take a picture of the inside of my brain, they would have seen a giant roller-coaster whose track went in every single direction, including dips and climbs, and someone resembling a freaked-out mouse on the track! :-)

I can hear you say, “Why didn’t you delegate?” Oh, I did, trust me…but could have done so even more! Anyway, I’m running along and all of a sudden, in the quietness of my soul two words came up and out and I mean I actually spoke them after I heard them! “Worship or worry”?

I almost stopped but I wanted to hear more…and I did!

Join me tomorrow for the conclusion to our July’s WOW!

Letting go of worry…one minute at a time

Evinda