Worrier or Warrior?

So, it’s confession time… One of the many deficiencies of my character is that I am a great worrier. I worry about all sorts of things which, though small and insignificant in reality can be built up in my mind to become huge, mountainous obstructions in my life. I’ve lost many a night’s sleep worrying about the coming day or week, working my way through all the possible scenarios and ways that things could go wrong. Inevitably, thanks to the grace of God, the reality is never as bad as my mind has made me believe and the days have passed calmly. And yet, I’m still guilty of measuring the imminent ‘success’ (or not) of the coming week by the number of stressful or ‘scary’ situations I will need to encounter. It leads me to ask the question, why do I this to myself? Why allow myself to lose precious life-moments by worrying about the next day, or the next week? What do I gain from worrying? 

I have often wondered at friends or colleagues who seem to breeze through life with a calm, laid back attitude to it all. They take life’s rocky, windy roads in their stride; taking each day as it comes, not wasting time with worry about what could happen, but applying themselves wholeheartedly in ‘the now’. Their ability to let go and relax is infuriating. Even more infuriating to me is that I’ve married one of them. My husband’s unshakeable confidence in God’s goodness to him and in his life manifests itself in a lack of worry about the future. I don’t think he’s lost a day’s sleep in his life because of worry and I envy this outlook. It’s not to say that he’s irresponsible – he plans for the future and gives careful thought before making important decisions, but he doesn’t sweat about the things that are out of his control. What an amazing perspective on life? What freedom to live life confidently without worry.

God doesn’t ask us to worry. He sometimes asks us to wait, but never to worry. In fact, he expressly states his desire for us not to stress about the things that aren’t in our control: 

^‘So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.’ (Matthew 6:34)

I like to think I’m a fairly grounded person. I am rooted in my faith and have my identity in Christ Jesus. I know that God holds me and my life in the palm of His hand and I work hard to show God’s love to other people. I completely believe that God has a plan for my life and I work hard to align myself and the decisions I make with the Bible. I believe the promises that He makes to me in the Bible... why worry?!

So, I devote this coming week to Him. Because it’s His already. He’s in it all, but more than that; He’s bigger than it all too. I choose to take each day as it comes, handing each and every day over to Him; simply because He is God, he is good and He loves me unconditionally.

This blog post is as much a message to me as to anyone else who needs to hear it. It marks the start of a difficult, but exciting endeavour for myself - an ambition to live life without sweating the small stuff. Today, I choose to leave behind the worrier and embrace the warrior in me. Why not join me?

^‘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.’ (Philippians 4:6-7)