I come from a long line of worriers.  I believe the predisposition for worry actually increases through the generations.  My mom has two times the normal dose within her.  It all came to head the year that I graduated from college.  I was moving out for good, my sister was moving into her first house at college, and my brother – the baby, had just gotten his drivers license.  We didn’t even really need to worry for ourselves – she worried enough for the rest of us.

I’m fairly confident that I received this same dominant for trait worry.  This is me worrying while I’m on the phone with a certain cell phone carrier trying to fix our accounts.

Double-fisted worrying.

You want to know the truth?  My mom really can’t be classified as a worrier any more than I can. We don’t get to claim that as a personality trait.  (Thank goodness.)  Why? Worry is sin. It’s like me declaring that I steal because “that’s just the way I am.”  Labeling ourselves as worriers simply admits defeat when we should be fighting for victory.

I’ve always planned for the future by worrying.  That’s logical, right?  I worried that I would never meet the one, or be able to pay my cell phone bill, or perfect a song to sing at a wedding, or manage my weight… I could go on and on, but it’s probably better if I don’t. My long-winded prayers were brought before the Father – just in time for me to let go… once the event was over.

Picture this:  I decide to climb a mountain, we’ll say Pike’s Peak.  I have a heavy bag of equipment so that I’m prepared for anything.  I’m climbing when someone in a jeep pulls up and offers to drive my pack up a good portion of the mountain so that it will be there when I need it.  But I refuse… perhaps I might need the hang glider on the way up!

Ridiculous and yet that’s the way I so often come before the Lord.  Matthew 6 is very clear about what we are to do with our worries:  DON’T.

So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.  Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds.  You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. Matthew 6:25-27, NCV

This isn’t a suggestion.  Jesus doesn’t merely say “I would suggest you don’t worry.”  This is a command.  A COMMAND – just like those 10 we know so well.  So why do we take this one so lightly?

Satan will try anything to distract you from the peace God wants to give you.  Don’t let him win with worry.  Give it up. Jesus knew what he was talking about.

Following,
Ginger

P.S. My mom is a super wonderful woman who teaches me to daily turn my burdens over to the Lord.  We are both a work in progress in this arena… but she’s leading the way in victory.