Growing up, I struggled with not knowing what to do with anxiety.
I was told to “just stop worrying,” and when I became a believer, the advice didn’t seem more helpful- “God says don’t worry.”
When my children shared their worries with me with increasing emphasis as our departure neared, I found ourselves in a rut, until we decided to tackle their anxieties head on by asking them what THEY thought would help ease their worries.
Their own solutions astounded me- perhaps, we all need to dig deep within ourselves to find the God-given strength and wisdom to manage the worry monsters we all have.
Looking back on this activity we did before my health ordeal and before all its related anxieties began, perhaps I, too, can learn from their courage to overcome my own fears. 😭
Matthew 6:25-34
“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? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 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? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”