This was the title of our sermon at church on Sunday. I must say sometimes you sit in church and are completely positive that it was all written especially for you to hear. Sitting here at lunch I am thinking about an email i wrote a month or so ago about worrying. I am a great worrier. I let everything worry me. I worry when Kyle goes off to the golf course. I worry about my job. I worry about getting married, the divorce rate in our country, having children, getting cancer, breaking my neck on the stairs outside my apartment. I worry sooo much. Our pastor, Tom read us some statistics about worry in America. Something like 20 or 30 percent of all people have an anxiety disorder of some kind. And 20 billion dollars a year is spent on anxiety related medications. Wow. Know I know all about anxiety - I mean, I have ulcers..that I gave to myself from being over stressed. They almost never flare up anymore but I still know when they are flaring up. I have learned how to control stress so much better than I used to. Maybe it is this coastal island beachy way of life that has taught me to just......RELAX.
Whatever..I am still the world's best worry wart. Here are the highlights from our notes from the Sermon.
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 important than food, and the body more important 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? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that 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 in the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, sawing,'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after 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."
Here are our notes:
Life is too important (to worry)
Worry does not help
We can't handle worry
Give it away, put it down, let it go
Trust God's control.
Understand God's love.
Pursue God's agenda.
other scripture references: 1 Peter 3:14 and Philipians 4:6
Then we made a list of the top 4 things we worry about and then next to each thing we wrote which guideline did that fall under. Mine were:
1. Wedding & marriage - Trusting God's Control
2. Licensing Test - Trusting God's Control
3. Weight - Understanding God's Love
4. Family - Pursue God's Agenda
The girl's in my lifegroup have decided to take these four things and share them each with each other so we can be praying for each other. We are also going to be memorizing some scripture to help us keep up a daily reminder that we need to give it all to God.
Yes, it's true that we women are the greatest worriers, but what good has ever come from worrying? It is so easy to turn to God for all the giant earth shaking problems in our lives, it is harder however for us to give him our daily worries, its strange when you think about it. If he can handle the huge stuff, the small stuff should be no problem...and he wants us to give it all to him.
Just something I was thinking about....
Love you all!
