The cure for anxiety (4)

When you start worrying about the future, recall what God has already brought you through. In situations you thought you wouldn’t survive, He caused you to thrive, right? Nothing can separate you from His love (see Romans 8:38-39). But your anxieties can rob you of the security His love brings. One writer said, “I was a person who wanted to understand everything because it made me feel I was in control. I was not good at ‘not knowing.’ My mind went on and on all day with thoughts like, Why did I act like that? I wonder what so-and-so is thinking about my decision to buy a new car? Why hasn’t God answered my prayer yet for a promotion at work? I wonder if I’m doing something wrong, or don’t have enough faith? The ‘whys’ in my mind seemed to never cease, and they made me miserable. My mind was home to all sorts of uninvited guests (tormenting thoughts) simply because I never said ‘no’ to them. I wondered, reasoned, worried, fretted, imagined, and was anxious to the point where it left me completely exhausted…God actually showed me that I was addicted to reasoning and that I had to give it up. It didn’t happen overnight, but each time I started my mental gymnastics, I said, ‘I will not worry or try to figure this out,’ and gradually I was able to trust God with my life.” Today God wants to be your provider, your guide, your adviser, your protector, and your “all in all.” So stand on His Word, which says, “You have been a strength…to the needy in his distress.”