Worry-wart

Yeah I am. I admit it. I worry about stuff. I worry about everything. I've always been a worrier, and I come from a very long line of professional worriers. The pay and the benefits are awful, but it's a full-time gig.
I preached about this on Sunday when I preached from Matthew 6. It was one of those sermons that pastors preach to the congregation, but really it's a sermon to ourselves. That happens sometimes. We intend for our sermons to reach the masses, but sometimes it's we pastors ourselves who really need to hear what the Spirit is speaking through us. This Sunday, the Spirit was telling to stop worry about stuff I can't control and just focus on living my life as God calls me to live.
That is so hard to do!!! Sometimes the stuff we worry about is legit, meaning we really should worry about it. It's easy enough to say, 'Well, it's in God's hands' as if that truly makes the worry go away. As human beings, we are conditioned to worry, so becoming non-worriers is really a matter of reconditioning.
So how do we recondition ourselves to become non-worriers?
Here again, I'm writing this more for me because I've still got a lot on my mind and apparently I didn't take myself seriously when I said it the first time last Sunday.
We recondition ourselves by taking a proactive approach to facing worry head on. Using money as an example -- because it's getting deeper into tax season and in the present state of the economy, that's an area most of us struggle with -- here's how the thought process can go:

Step One: Naming the emotion and the thing causing that emotion.
Example: I am feeling anxious. The cause of my anxiety is money.

Step Two: Brainstorming ways to control the cause of the worry.
Example: I'm feeling anxious about money. What can I do about it? I can create a budget that shows me where my money is going, how I'm using it, and how successful (or unsuccessful) I am at saving it. Once I have a physical way to see my income and expenses, I can brainstorm new ways to save money in the places I can control (get a lower-priced cell phone plan, walk instead of driving to save $ on gas, call credit card companies to see about lowering monthly payments, but watch out for interest that makes you pay more in the long run).

Step Three: Put a verbal phrase to reality.
Example: In reality, there are some aspects of the income and expenses that I can change. There are some that I can't. I have to accept that and take a proactive approach to the things I can change.

Step Four: Pray about it.
Example: Gracious God, creator of all things, help me to remember that anything I have in this life is only mine for a little while. Encourage me and strengthen me as I strive to have serenity to accep the things I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. God all things are yours. I am yours. Help me to see all the ways that I am truly blessed. Amen.

Step Five: Move on.
You've faced it. You've prayed about it. Now move on with your life.

It's a process, like anything else. It takes work. But it's a simple way to look at reconditioning ourselves to stop worrying about things we have no control over. There will always be things that are out of our control. It's justa fact of life. That's the reality of the universe. God's in control, not us. As long as we continue to try to control things we have no control over, we will continue to be plagued by chronic anxiety.

Like I said, in some ways I'm preaching more to myself than to you. That being said, maybe you'll still find this helpful.

Christ has given us this promise that no matter what road we're walking, we're not going at it alone. In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples that he's going somewhere they can't follow. They will, however, follow soon. Thomas pipes up, "We don't know where you're going. How can we possibly know the way without you?" Jesus says, "I am the Way." For a while after Christ ascended back into Heaven, the new sect that would eventually become Christianity was called "The Way." In John 14, Jesus promised that as long as we walk in The Way, we will never be alone because the "advocate," the Holy Spirit, walks with us, teaching us what we need to know. Think about the inspirational story "Footprints" (search for it on Google if you don't know it). Sometimes we only see one set of foot prints, and it can feel pretty lonely when we forget that when we see one set of footprints, it's because God carries us.

Faith and trust should be easy, but they're not. They're things we have to cultivate and condition ourselves with. When we have that spirit of simplicty and cultivate that spirit of thanksgiving, and when we take a moment to really see all the ways that we are truly blessed, we realize that God does keep that promise to give us what we need.

God created us in love, taking the time and care to form each and every one of us piece by piece by piece. We do the best we can with what we have been given, and that's all we can do.

May God grant you peace of mind and give you courage as you strive to cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving and contentment.

I'll be right there with you, struggling side by side with you, praying with you.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki