Worry or Pray?

Worry…one definition I saw was this: “to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.”

“Torment oneself”…that certainly describes what happens when we do worry, doesn’t it?

We all worry, don’t we? We all have the things in our life we worry about. Some may be big, some may be little. But one thing is for sure, whatever we worry about tends to torment us, it tends to consume us, and it tends to become “larger than life” sometimes.

I have heard the saying, and maybe you have too, that sometimes helps me keep my worries in check… “When you worry, don’t pray. And when you pray, don’t worry.” It reminds me to pray, give the situation to God, and not to worry about it. God is in control and can handle it much better than I can.

I felt led to write about this subject today. I’m not sure why. Maybe as a reminder to all of us that God is still in control, no matter the way things may seem.

There were a number of things I worried about this week:

One of them was that I hadn’t written a post on my blog since Monday. I had to release that worry and recognize that work and other commitments needed to come first.

I worried about my children, especially last night as Ali climbed in a car from our home with a group of friends to go to the Homecoming dance at school (for the first time!). I prayed all night for her safety.

I worried about my week and the busy-ness of it. I worried how I was going to get everything done.

I worried about situations in my life that are beyond my control.

I worried about BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) starting…can I really be an effective leader there with my schedule the way it is?

I worried about my friend’s son who has a rare eye disease that may lead to his blindness. He’s around 10 years old.

I worried about my relationship with Ali, as I was accused of being the “strictest mom” who “never lets her do anything.” That consumed most of my thinking on Friday.

I worried about making sure everyone had everything they needed each morning and evening. I worried about getting everyone to where they needed to be on time.

I worried about money and our family finances.

I’m sure there were more things I worried about, but I’m not remembering them right now. 🙂

Worrying drains us. Worrying does nothing good for us. I look back at some of the things I worried about this week, and I realize again that there’s no point to me worrying. I just need to recognize the things that are weighing on me and take them directly to God. I used to picture in my mind each worry being a suitcase or a bag. And I would picture giving each worry (or suitcase) to God…handing each one over to Him to take from me. Again, He’s in charge and is already in the process of handling each one…I just need to give them to Him and allow Him to take them from me. And then not try to take the worry back from Him again.

If you’re worried about something today, why not give your worry to the One who can handle it? 🙂 He’s just waiting to take it from you.