what to do with anxiety

So many people are operating out of fear. Anxiety seems to be at an all time high. What is a Christian to do when anxiety (fear) wants to rear its ugly head and dominate your thoughts?

“In the multitude of my anxieties within me,Your comforts delight my soul.” Psalm 94:19 (NKJV)

How quickly life as we know it can change. I am grateful for so many things, one of which is that I don’t have to live in fear. When anxiety rears its ugly head I know what to do. I turn to God and receive from Him comfort. He quiets my soul. He renews my mind.

Let’s read Psalm 94:19 from the Living Bible.
“Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer.”

Doubts, fears, turmoil, stress, anxiety – all of these mess with my mind and take my eyes off of Jesus. I don’t want to live on the merry-go-round of fear and anxiety. The good news is that God is greater than whatever I am facing (1 John 4:4) and He is with me. (Matt 28:20) His Word is true. (Psalm 33:4) He is with you also. He doesn’t want you to operate out of fear and worry. He offers to you peace. (John 14:27)

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 NLT

til next time

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taking my eyes off me – again!

It is so easy to dwell on something that troubles you. You find yourself going over and over the issue again. What should you have done different? How did you not see it? What you wish you had said or done. What do you do now? How do you stop it from hurting?

Recently, after sharing my thoughts for the umpteenth time on a situation that puzzled me, I told my husband that that was all I was going to say on the matter.

Fast forward 15 minutes and there I was bringing it up again. Why? Why is that so easy to do? God knows that what I dwell on is vital. His Word addresses it often. So once again I purposed in my heart to cast my cares and fix my thoughts on all the good things God is doing. (PhIl 4:4-8)

Today my personal devotions took me to Psalms.
“Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.” Psalm 104:34 NASB That reminded me of Psalm 19:14 “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”So once again I purpose in my heart that today I will focus on what is right in the world, what God is doing, and what God wants to do through me and through our church.
I encourage you to read and meditate on all of Psalm 104. Don’t forget to sing or at least listen to music that magnifies God.

” I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord.” Psalm 104:33-34 NIV

For me, it is so much easier to keep my mind on God’s truth when I am singing praises to Him. Listening to praise music does so much more for my mental outlook that any news station. Hmmm, I do believe there is an important connection there.

To God be the glory,

til next time

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enjoy today? yes! yes I will!

“You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done.” Psalm 92:4 NLT

As I sit here this morning, awoken once again by pain, I have two courses of action. I can allow the pain to take over or I can refocus my thoughts. What I can’t do is make the pain go away. What I can do is not give it power over my day.

That’s the problem we encounter. We give whatever is going on power over us. We allow it to impact our thoughts and before we know it, we are wallowing in discouragement or frustration.

What is stopping you from enjoying today?

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.” Heb 12:1-3 NLT

What is the weight that is slowing you down? What is it that is trying to get you discouraged?

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening,” Psalm 92:1-2 NLT

When we have an attitude of gratitude, when we focus on our Savior, when we take captive our thoughts and keep our eyes on Jesus — we find that the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Neh 8:10)

I choose joy!

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peace

“You will keep him in perfect peace,Whose mind is stayed on You,Because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3 NKJV

What tries to steal your peace? Is it relationships? or work conflicts? Maybe it is financial? Health issues trying to trip you up? Our thoughts can be a real peace stealer.

Keeping our mind on the Lord is key to remaining in peace. Yet, how do we do that?

For me, when I go get the mail and there is yet another bill from the accident, it can be overwhelming. (It’s over $58,000 and still more to come. I am grateful for insurance even with a high deductible.) I have a choice. I can stay stuck in the stress of yet another bill. Or I can refocus on my God. My life is His. (Psalm 119:49-50)

When my arm throbs, I can fall into the trap of thinking it will never be normal again. Or I can refocus on my Father God who is with me through all of this and know that it will be ok whatever the outcome.

Truth is I don’t know what tomorrow holds – neither do you. I can let worry about tomorrow ruin a perfectly good day. I can let the pain I am feeling right now ruin a perfectly good day. (Matt 6:34) Or I can let my faith rise up and keep trusting God – knowing that He is with me and for me. (Eph 6:16, Matt 28:20, Psalm 118:6)

If peace does not describe you right now, ask yourself where you are putting your thoughts. Who do you trust in?

I trust God to work this out for His glory and for my good. (Romans 8:28)

To God be the glory (1Cor 10:31)

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what do you talk about?

“What is closest to your heart is what you will talk about. And if God is closest to your heart, you’ll talk about Him.” AW Tozer

A new day has dawned. What will you do with your words today? What will you post on FB today? As a wife, mother, grandma, friend, co-worker, pastor, chaplain – I wear many hats. There are many topics that I love to talk about. It is no surprise that God fits into each of those topics, if I let Him.

 

“May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 TLB

 

Use your words today to encourage, build up, and point others to Christ.

til next time

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guard your thoughts

A few thoughts:

Be Thankful – count your blessings

Recognize the need to call upon His name

Make known – share your story!

Sing – singing songs to and about God is one way to fill your peace tank

Talk – long ago I decided to be intentional about bringing God into conversations. After awhile it just becomes second nature.

Rejoice — choose joy! With your heart – seek God.

Seek the Lord – with intent – go after God.

Remember — “Remember that God has been faithful in the past so when difficulties arise you are not swayed by them.” Pastor Curtis

 

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord!

Call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;

Talk of all His wondrous works!

Glory in His holy name;

Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face evermore!

Remember His marvelous works which He has done,

His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,

1 Chronicles 16:8-12(NKJV)

In Awe of the wonders of God,

til next time

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my mind tends to wander

I trust God. Yet my mind tends to wander. My mind tends to give in to stress easier than it should. I find that I have to be intentional about where my thoughts go. I think we all do.

Holding tightly to this verse.

Isaiah 26:3 English Standard Version (ESV)

“You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.”

I finally watched our Fireside Chat live video just a few minutes ago. (If you watch it, start at 4:12) I couldn’t watch it earlier. I read the comments but that was it. My mind had me convinced that it was nothing short of a failure. Who needs to watch that?

From there my mind went to – we don’t have the proper equipment, lighting, knowledge, what are we thinking? Curtis told me that it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

As… I… thought — Thoughts — oh how they can deceive us.

Our thoughts can cripple us. Our thoughts can hold us hostage. I have said for years that the battles that we face are really lost or won in our mind. How we think about what is going on. What we dwell on — what lies we give credibility to and the damage that it does.

Or do we keep our mind on Jesus?  Looking to Him, trusting Him, believing and living out His promises found in the Word.  He will never leave us.  He is an ever-present help in trouble.  He will see us through.  He is greater than whatever we face.

Do we see problems as opportunities for God to shine in our lives?  Do we see trials as a way that our faith is displayed for all to see?  Do we see tribulation as nothing more than something Christ said we would have but we can be of good cheer because He has overcome the world and we are overcomers because of Him?

“perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.” Maybe like me, you need to be reminded of the great importance of keeping your mind on God. It really is of utmost importance to walking in peace.

And guard against letting the enemy pull your thoughts away to a dark place that will not do anyone any good.

fixing my eyes on Jesus (Heb 12:1-2)

til next time

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but as for me

But as for me”  There are at least 13 scriptures in Psalms that utilizes that phrase in the NASB.

“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;…” Psalm 31:14-15

“But as for me” I love that phrase. It reminds that no matter what is going on, no matter what others are doing, no matter how I feel — I get to choose what I do next.

But as for me, I will trust God.

But as for me, I will obey God.

But as for me, I will nail my feelings to the cross and believe what Jesus says.

Psalm 59:16 “But as for me, I will sing about your power.
Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge,a place of safety when I am in distress.”

What about you?  Where are your thoughts?

If we focus on problems – problems will be all we see. If we see problems as opportunities to see the hand of God helping us – we will start seeing His hand more and more. When we put God first, He really does give us wisdom to know what to do and the strength to do it.

But as for me, I refuse to get jazzed up about ___________. But as for me, I depend on God.

I choose to sing with joy, to lift my voice in praise to the One who loves me most. God’s love never fails.

What are you choosing?

til next time

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meditation anyone?

Do you find yourself going over and over something?  Then you know how to meditate.  The importance is what you are going over and over.

We can rehash a bad experience and that takes us to a negative place.  We can dwell on something that made us angry.  That is a great way to stay angry.

As a christian we are told to meditate on God’s Word.

Let’s do that today.  Wherever you find yourself, take some time to meditate on God’s Word.

Are you feeling stressed?

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:6-7 ESV

Are you tired?

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30 ESV

Are you overwhelmed?

“From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2 NKJV

Do you need to be reminded that God loves you?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 KJV

Does life seem out of control?

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promisesand faithful in all he does.

The Lord upholds all who falland lifts up all who are bowed down.” Psalm 145:13-14 NIV

Here is what I am meditating on today?

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;his mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentation 3:22-23 ESV

What are you meditating on today?

til next time

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in Your hand

My times are in Your hand, O Lord!

That is such an encouraging truth! God is in control. God knows! God is holding our hand. (Psalm 73:23)

Psalm 31: 14-15
“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.”

Deliver me — as I sit here thinking about this, I am reminded that sometimes we are our worst enemy. When we allow our thoughts to take us down the road of negativity, when all we see is problems, problems problems, or give in to lies about who we are or who God is — well, we need to be delivered from that way of thinking.

How do you see God? Our God is greater. (1 Jn 4:4) Our God is able. (Psalm 138:8) God is with us (Matt 28:20) for us (Psalm 118:6) sustaining us (Psalm 55:22) and He is enough! (2 Cor 12:9)

May today find you believing what the Word says about who you are and who God is!!

But as for me — I trust You God!

Selah,

til next time

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