I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I've been sucked into the land of worry. I know it is a waste of my time and I know God commands us NOT to worry. I also know that worry/fear are the exact opposite of faith. Yet, here I am fighting this worry bug so strongly that I wish they sold "worry bug spray." I thought if I took a few minutes to write about this, I'd get some clarity and peace of mind.
Here are some great verses on the topic:
Proverbs 12:25 ~ An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
Philippians 4:6-7 ~ Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:27-30 ~ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
I Peter 5:7 ~ Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
I guess these verses say it clearly enough, don't they?! Stop worrying. Trust God enough to let go of all the frets and fears. Does God care about me? Of course. Does He know exactly what I need? Of course. Then Who should I be taking my fears to? Duh.
I think perhaps my issue with the current list of things that have me so bothered, is the guilt and shame and anger behind their existence. We're talking financial worries here. As much as I have tried to forgive myself for the stupidity that caused these things, I keep coming back to them over and over again. And what is it that causes me to keep beating myself up over the same issues? When I start comparing myself to others. I see others who are able to do the things that we should be able to do if we hadn't been so stupid in the past. Things that we now have to postpone for who knows how long while we dig ourselves out of the hole we created. It's downright maddening. Sickening. Frustrating beyond belief. Once I start to get caught up into that mindset, it's all downhill from there. That's where I am now. I guess it's kind of a pity party for myself. Not helping too much, now is it?! Time to change my mindset and get back to my happy place!
The person who gave the sermon on Sunday night said something that really struck me: "Stop blaming the enemy for where you're at. Most of us aren't doing enough for God for the enemy to bother attacking us. We sabotage ourselves so well, we don't need the enemy's help!" Wow. So true, isn't it?! I have a lot of great lies that I continue to believe and to feed myself. I don't need the enemy to feed them to me. He has me trained well enough to do it all on my own. Or maybe I've just been a foolish Christian long enough to have trained myself to do such things. I love the verse above that says we should "thank God for all He's done." That is one easy way to find peace in the midst of any worry...particularly a financial one. I can look back and see the debts we've paid off. I can see the period of unemployment that He got us through. I can see that He always takes care of us. All of His past provisions ought to be enough to ease the worries today. But instead I succumb to looking at the whole big scary picture and start to throw out those "what ifs." That's a killer. A big no-no.
I want a quick and easy fix. Well, that's not going to happen. I need to pray for endurance and contentment along the way. Pray for continued knowledge and discipline in the area of our budget. Trust that God is going to supply what we need when we need it. Plan enough for future expenses, but don't focus on all the things that will be heading our way down the road. That's just too much to take in. Find that balance between budgeting and planning, but not dwelling and worrying. It is certainly a fine line at times, isn't it?!
Because, guess what...in the midst of our monthly budget is this big thing called LIVING! Sometimes, I can get so caught up in the bottom line of where our progress is, that I forget to enjoy the daily moments God blesses us with. Living in fear of what the future brings to us financially, is sucking my enjoyment out of the daily life I have been given to live. After all, this life is a gift! Every second of it. God gave us every blessing. He didn't give them to us so we could sit around and worry about how everything is going to pan out. He gave us these blessings to treasure every moment. It is time to learn how to separate my daily living from my Quicken program. Sounds dumb, I know. But I truly find that my peace only comes on the days/weeks where Quicken is showing we're doing OK. Life's not any fun at all on those weeks where Quicken shows we're in the "struggling side of the month." (We have that, do you? Where one half of the month is always much easier to get through financially then the other one? Can you tell which side of the month we're on right now?!)
Goodness knows this life is going to continue to throw a lot of "worry-able" moments at us. It is time to get this worry bug under control! I must be purposeful. I must change my thoughts on this topic. I must bathe myself in prayer and Scriptures on the topic. Enough is enough. Worrying is just no fun at all!
Here are some great verses on the topic:
Proverbs 12:25 ~ An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
Philippians 4:6-7 ~ Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:27-30 ~ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
I Peter 5:7 ~ Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
I guess these verses say it clearly enough, don't they?! Stop worrying. Trust God enough to let go of all the frets and fears. Does God care about me? Of course. Does He know exactly what I need? Of course. Then Who should I be taking my fears to? Duh.
I think perhaps my issue with the current list of things that have me so bothered, is the guilt and shame and anger behind their existence. We're talking financial worries here. As much as I have tried to forgive myself for the stupidity that caused these things, I keep coming back to them over and over again. And what is it that causes me to keep beating myself up over the same issues? When I start comparing myself to others. I see others who are able to do the things that we should be able to do if we hadn't been so stupid in the past. Things that we now have to postpone for who knows how long while we dig ourselves out of the hole we created. It's downright maddening. Sickening. Frustrating beyond belief. Once I start to get caught up into that mindset, it's all downhill from there. That's where I am now. I guess it's kind of a pity party for myself. Not helping too much, now is it?! Time to change my mindset and get back to my happy place!
The person who gave the sermon on Sunday night said something that really struck me: "Stop blaming the enemy for where you're at. Most of us aren't doing enough for God for the enemy to bother attacking us. We sabotage ourselves so well, we don't need the enemy's help!" Wow. So true, isn't it?! I have a lot of great lies that I continue to believe and to feed myself. I don't need the enemy to feed them to me. He has me trained well enough to do it all on my own. Or maybe I've just been a foolish Christian long enough to have trained myself to do such things. I love the verse above that says we should "thank God for all He's done." That is one easy way to find peace in the midst of any worry...particularly a financial one. I can look back and see the debts we've paid off. I can see the period of unemployment that He got us through. I can see that He always takes care of us. All of His past provisions ought to be enough to ease the worries today. But instead I succumb to looking at the whole big scary picture and start to throw out those "what ifs." That's a killer. A big no-no.
I want a quick and easy fix. Well, that's not going to happen. I need to pray for endurance and contentment along the way. Pray for continued knowledge and discipline in the area of our budget. Trust that God is going to supply what we need when we need it. Plan enough for future expenses, but don't focus on all the things that will be heading our way down the road. That's just too much to take in. Find that balance between budgeting and planning, but not dwelling and worrying. It is certainly a fine line at times, isn't it?!
Because, guess what...in the midst of our monthly budget is this big thing called LIVING! Sometimes, I can get so caught up in the bottom line of where our progress is, that I forget to enjoy the daily moments God blesses us with. Living in fear of what the future brings to us financially, is sucking my enjoyment out of the daily life I have been given to live. After all, this life is a gift! Every second of it. God gave us every blessing. He didn't give them to us so we could sit around and worry about how everything is going to pan out. He gave us these blessings to treasure every moment. It is time to learn how to separate my daily living from my Quicken program. Sounds dumb, I know. But I truly find that my peace only comes on the days/weeks where Quicken is showing we're doing OK. Life's not any fun at all on those weeks where Quicken shows we're in the "struggling side of the month." (We have that, do you? Where one half of the month is always much easier to get through financially then the other one? Can you tell which side of the month we're on right now?!)
Goodness knows this life is going to continue to throw a lot of "worry-able" moments at us. It is time to get this worry bug under control! I must be purposeful. I must change my thoughts on this topic. I must bathe myself in prayer and Scriptures on the topic. Enough is enough. Worrying is just no fun at all!
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