Application: Worry

"'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 not 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 into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all 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.'"  Matthew 6 : 25 - 34

We are in a stage of our lives where we worry, a lot.  Well I do at least. I am constantly worrying about school, my family, my friends, my future; I worry about everything.  And it distracts me!  When we spend so much time worrying about our life, we are so focused on earthly things that we forget to engage in life.  

This passage proves that God will provide for survival.  When we are distracted by worrying about basic survival, we are no longer able to thrive the way God intended.  But He provides abundantly!  What a blessing we have in that.  We are able to put aside worry's for everyday life and lean into the best possible life God has for us.  

But telling yourself you're not going to worry anymore is a lot easier than actually applying it.  Worry is a way that we hold onto control of our lives. Giving our worry to God is handing Him control.  I think another reason we hold back from giving God our worry, is because we are afraid that He will not show up.  Trusting God is such a huge step of faith, and what happens if He doesn't show up in the way you expect? But this worry is paralyzing.  How are we able to live life to the fullest when we are stuck in a cycle of constant worry? 

So what does it look like to not worry?  You can give money when money is tight.  This is so hard because with money comes security.  It's reassuring to have extra money just in case your car breaks down or there is another emergency.  We can also give time.  This is what I struggle with the most.  I constantly forget to put time aside for just me and God, whether that be in prayer or reading the bible.  It's so hard to give God your best time, your most productive and focused time, but He deserves that and more.  Another way to not worry is to put yourself out there and have a conversation about Jesus with a friend.  Sharing your faith comes with so much worry and anxiety, but really, what is there to lose? 

What if our goal was to not only get through life, but to live life to the fullest; to thrive?  I'm not going to tell you to stop worrying all together, because I know thats something we can't do, but I will encourage you to hand control over to God.  Believe it or not, He does know something about engineering and can handle school decisions for you, He does have a plan to lead to the best possible life, and He will provide abundantly.  

So where do you need to give up control?  What do you worry about the most?  And I would love for you to share stories where you gave your worry to God and saw something amazing happen.