In the Middle of Worry

I've been worried about something for a bit now. Not a major worry. Nothing world ending, nothing health or kiddo related. A minor worry, really. Without getting into specifics, it has to do with one of my (many) jobs and although I should have shrugged it off weeks ago, it's stayed with me. Nagged me. Woken me up daily at 4 a.m.

I know, I'm a bit melodramatic.

I didn't know what in the world to do about it. Should I say something? Write an email? Make a big stink over something that's ultimately a little issue? Enlist a neutral 3rd party? Just let it go?

I couldn't process it. At all.

Then, last night, I remembered the Youth lesson I taught the last week of August about stress.

In the lesson, which coincided with the start of the school year, we talked about how there's so dang many stressors in life. Work, school, family, chores, friends, health...the list is pretty literally never-ending.

All of those areas, if they get a bit out of sync, can cause stress. Stress that leads to worry. Worry that leads to anxiety. Anxiety that leads to panic. Panic that freezes us in place and prevents us from the life we're meant to live.

And God doesn't want us to live like that!

No, God doesn't promise us our lives are going to be perfect, our paths without boulders to climb, our roads without detours.

But he does promise us that no matter what's going on - big worries, little worries, small issues, potentially life-ending issues - he's with us.

The perfect verse for this, and it was in the lesson as well, comes from Philipians 4:6-7:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So...I decided I wasn't going to fly off the handle and do something rash about my situation. I wasn't going to poke the bear or try to precipitate an outcome that wasn't meant to be. Instead, I was going to cast that worry to God as a part of my normal daily prayers.

I have a prayer mantra. I say it probably 5 dozen times a day, in all situations. And while I'm saying it, I'm thinking about what I'm worrying about or giving thanks for at the time. I highly recommend this prayer mantra - it's played an integral role in turning my life back around for the positive the past six months. And it's so simple! So here it is:

Dear God, thank you for the many blessings in my life!

That probably wasn't what you were expecting, was it? But it's right in line with the verse above - first and foremost, I give thanks for all that I have. And even in the worst of times, my goodness do I have a lot! While I'm doing so, I have in my heart any petitions or praises that are current to that time. And God's got the rest.

Oh, and my worry? Well, it's gone now. See, after casting it to God, I got an email and then a phone call this morning that other people I hadn't even known were working on the same issue had resolved it and there wasn't a thing I needed to do. Poof. Gone.

Many worries don't go away like that. That junk that was gunking up my life in the past years took serious hard work to get gone. See, while God's there with us, he also expects us to work our tails off both in his service and to protect our families and prepare ourselves for the future while living our best lives today.

We can't just sit around and expect a prayer to solve all things or magically bring us solutions. Instead, I believe prayer both sets the wheel in motion and surrounds us with protection - especially our psyches and hearts - as we work under God's guidance to achieve what we need to in life while working diligently to live as He wants us to live.

What do you worry about? Do you have a personal prayer mantra? How do you talk to God about your worries? If you're agnostic or atheist, what is your own method of dealing with worry? Please share below - enquiring minds want to know!