I don’t know who said this, but it carries a thought-provoking message:
Worry doesn’t help tomorrow’s troubles, but it does ruin today’s happiness.
The best way to conquer worry is to trust God.
Worry often comes from trying to figure life’s events out ourselves. But God always has a plan at work on our behalf, and it’s designed for success. The less we worry, and the more we trust God, the sooner we see the divine plan unfolding before our eyes, and life’s events make more sense.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs
I really like that. It’s very helpful to me right now. Thanks!
Peggy
Didn’t someone once say (very wisely) “Worry is ingratitude in advance”. I always remind myself of this each time I am tempted to worry and then I am more able to turn away from the worry and toward being grateful for God’s presence and His tender loving care right here and now.
Thanks Even.
I don’t think people would worry if bad things didn’t happen. But when you witness terrible things, or hear of it actually happening around the world and in the community, it is difficult to “trust God” who seemed to have not been there to prevent those events that caused people to worry and become fearful.
I worry a lot and can’t help it. I worry about my children and whether they are safe. This comes not from a baseless fear, but because I have seen or heard of children coming to harm, being kidnapped, killed, abused. If those things didn’t happen to anyone, then yes, you can say the fear is baseless, but this has happened to real people.
People who have lost loved ones might have more difficulty trusting in God, and it’s almost cruel to tell them not to worry, when they have lived the nightmare.
I certainly can understand your point of view. My resolution to the fears you mention is in studying how Jesus approached salvation from world woes. Jesus did not hang around in the world and try to establish peace in a matter world. He ascended, meaning ascended in thought to Spirit, which is heaven. And he said, “Follow me.” He followed this approach everytime he faced evil. And he certainly faced his share of evil. And suffered from it too. But he did not cave into fear, knowing there was a spiritual way out, which he showed us. By following his example, not trying to harmonize matter, but ascending in thought to Spirit, we too find protection from evil.
As we understand this type of salvation better, fear lessens because we know there’s always a way out–a spiritual way.