To live free: worry less

By T Suzanne Eller.

July 29, 2011 | Faith: Knowing Christ, Feelings: Intentional freedom

How can worry add one more day to your life? Wrong question. How can worry take away the day you were given?
The root word in scripture for worry is “strangle”. That changes the way I view worry. It’s not productive. It chokes the hope out of me.
A recent study stated that:
80% of the things we worry about never come to pass. . . which means a lot of emotional energy expended for nothing.
Of the remaining 20%, when it came to pass 18% was much easier to work through than expected. The results were different than the worry. . . which still means a lot of emotional energy expended for nothing.
The remaining 2% was where worry merited attention. But not in the form of worry, but rather in the form of action.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to hit the end of my life and find that I’ve devoted 98% of my life to worry. Rather, I’d love to know that I lived life fully, and when that 2% hit I dealt with it action and attitude anchored in faith.

To live free: Worry less, live more.
Scripture: Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
Today: Your faith was never meant to be woven in worry, but founded on faith in something bigger than yourself.
Just you and God: Write down your most pressing worry(ies). Where do they fall in the 98%. Are you expending energy worrying over what might happen?
Is your worry a right now concern? What is one thing you can do? What is one thing you can place on God’s shoulders? What is one joyful miracle in your life that worry has caused you not to see? Write down that, too.