Foundation #7 - Worrying accomplishes nothing

I have always been a worrier. Mind you, I only worry about certain things (however, there is not enough room in this blog to list them all!!!). My early teen years were occasioned by a trip to the doctor because my stomach had been upset for several days or I had severe abdominal pain (I will spare you the gory details). During the first years of my marriage, I visited the hospital 3 times - two in the middle of the night - because my "inerds" were in a knot. I struggled for years with IBS (irritable bowl syndrome).

After a whole bunch of tests and doctor visits, pokes, prods, "cleansings" (I will leave that to your imagination), one doctor finally told me that he thought it was due to stress and worry because they could find nothing physically wrong with me. Not necessarily the words I wanted to hear, but deep down, I knew that he was right.

This news started my journey toward a "worry free life". One of the principles that I had to work through, and still do, is Jesus' words in Matthew (6:27): "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" This was obviously meant to be a rhetorical statement because the answer is no one can ever do this. (Note that in my case, and I believe in most cases, prolonged worry will actually DECREASE your life, instead of adding to it.)

When I face times of worry, I recite this verse as: "Who by worrying can ________ to his life". I fill in the blank with whatever happens to be troubling me at that time. Who by worrying, can change how someone is thinking about you? Who by worrying can change the results of the blood work that I am having done? Who by worrying can add 10 more points to his test score. I HAVE to remind myself over and over again that worrying accomplishes NOTHING positive.

This is what Jesus was driving at - it does absolutely no good to worry. There are just certain things in life that you have NO control over and worrying is not going to change them. In fact, the things in life that you do have control over will not be changed by worrying about them either!!!

Worry is a thief. It only takes and leaves nothing positive behind. Jesus, who came to give us life, understood this and wanted us to avoid having life taken from us!

Principles so far:
#1 You reap what you sow
#2 God is good all the time
#3 Fruit of the Spirit is the yardstick
#4 Forgiveness is a key to unlocking spiritual growth
#5 Love God, love people
#6 The heart is revealed by what someone says or does