Don't worry. Be happy.

Well, I know it's been a while. I've started to write several times and just couldn't finish for whatever reason. It's been pretty busy here. A lot has happened. I spent the summer in Alabama at a girl's missions camp. That was....challenging. My patience and gentleness was tested quite a bit. Spending a week with 10 girls under 10 aint the easiest thing to do, especially in the hot summer! But God was faithful in equipping me with the strength I needed. Anyways, that's not what I wanted to say here. God brought something to my attention here recently that when I realized what it was, it felt like 100 pounds was lifted off my shoulders. I was able to rest and was so much more peaceful afterward. That thing I let go of was worry.

It's so easy to do. I'm a perfectionist and I find myself worrying about things, specifically the future and if I'm making the right choices regarding the future. For a good while I lived like that. I didn't realize what I was doing, til recently. Now, I see what it did. Several things I noticed that worry does:
1) Robs you of your peace. Instead of resting in God, you get restless.
2) It says that God is not big enough for my problems. I have to worry about this because God can't handle it. Even though I have no control over it, neither does God...wrong.
3) It shows we have a weak and faithless heart. Life is never certain, everyone knows that. What we do with that uncertainty is important. We can either have faith and trust God with it, or pretty much let it eat us alive. It takes a lot to not worry about something, it's not easy...but it is a choice.
4) It hinders any growth. It paralyzes us. Worry pulls you in two different directions, and you're stuck in the middle. You can either trust God with it and give it to him, or you can try and do it on your own (and most likely fail)...you're stuck in between those, and it paralyzes you.
5) It hinders us from experiencing things that we could experience if we trust God with everything. I hear time after time, as soon as let go of ________, "this" happened. God wants our heart. He wants our trust. Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path."

Once we lay our worries at the foot of the cross?
We have peace. We trust that God is sovereign and in control. We have confidence. Psalm 112:6-8 says, "Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes." Does that sound like a person who worries? No, it sounds like a person who is trusting in the Lord and is confident in Him.

I'll just say, that after I realized all these things I was worrying about were not of God, but lies that the devil was throwing at me; once I gave it the Lord it felt like 100 other things got thrown at me. By the grace of God I was able to see them clearly and deal with them the right way. Satan knows our weaknesses, he knows where to get us. We have to be extra guarded and be ready to defend the lies, cause it's easy to fall into them.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

(Matthew 6:25-34)