Worry and Stress taking over? Check this out!

So I’m reading this book called, “Crazy Love” Overwhelmed by a relentless God by Francis Chan.

And I wanted to share with you what he writes about worry and stress. It was as great reminder for me as I approach a few big turns coming up in my life… a few I’ll share with you are my brother’s exploratory surgery coming up in a couple weeks at Cleveland Clinic and starting a new job as Operations manager at Habitat for Humanity in Genesee county, and of course there are a couple more things squeezed in between those..

So as my mind started to think about this surgery for my brother and what it will mean for his future and how can I be strong for him and also show him my confidence in God, when we have no solid truth as to what is going on with him and what his future will hold, I realized I have to get into God’s word. That’s the only place where truth is right there instantly. ( Well you hope sometimes it takes a day or so for me to really have some scriptures sink in and speak to me!)  It just continues to ring true to life for all of us I guess. I mean we all do not know what the future will hold. We have to trust in God. 

So here’s what Francis Chan says about stress and worry.

“When I am consumed by my problems- stressed out about my life, my family, my job- I actually convey the beliefs that I think the circumstances are more important than God’s command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a right to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities.

Worry- implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what’s happening in our lives.

Stress- says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control.

Basically these two behaviors communicate that it’s okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we’ve been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won’t be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of Gods strength, our problems are small indeed.

Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?

I find myself relearning this lesson often. Even though I glimpse Gods holiness, I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not about me at all.”

So I’ll leave you with that today and hopefully we can be reminded to give our worries and stress to God, to not let them consume our everyday choices and actions.