"Over the years," he said, "I've realized that the things I spent the most time worrying about hardly ever happened. The real catastrophes came without any warning at all. Looking back at the last 85 years, God gave me the strength to survive even the worst of them."
Then he said something profound. "What I have decided, at 85, is when I catch myself worrying about something, I say, 'Praise God!' Because it probably won't ever happen. And if it does happen, I've learned that God will carry me through it, as he has all those times before."
God had, indeed, set this dear old warrior free from all his fears.
How about you? Can you take this man's example to heart, and catch yourself when you start to worry next time--shift gears, start to praise God, and see what unfolds?
Test it for yourself: try keeping notes in your calendar about when you were worried or anxious about something, then gave praise to God. Check back in a month and see what actually transpired. You'll have a lot of disasters that were not worth fretting over, or raising your blood pressure. You'll be able to thank the Lord for delivering you from all kinds of ways that things were not as bad as you thought they would be.
Don't wait till you are 85 to be set free from your fears. Who wants that kind of roommate?
I cried out to the Lord in my suffering, and he heard me. He set me free from all my fears.
Psalm. 34:6
J.E., regarding your "The real catastrophes came without any warning at all.", in a different setting and topic, I spoke about that on my blog: http://j.mp/13QmYa
ReplyDeleteOne of the lessons I have learned that seems to have stuck with me, is that there is a major difference between worry and being anxious on the one hand, and being concerned on the other. I'm concerned about world hunger (and Dallas hunger), and I'm concerned about global warming and global cooling, whichever is in vogue at the moment. But I am not worried about either.
My wife and I are a three-cancer family, all of which have been successfully cut out years ago. While I may be concerned about cancer returning, neither my wife or I spend one second in worrying or being anxious about it.
At least in this area, we are living by "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and petition let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
Phil 4:6-7
Thanks to God for his abundant mercy to us, and to you and your family.
Larry