A Cure For What Worries You

Lately, I have felt kind of like a scientist who has just reached an incredible break through, although what I have discovered is nothing new; in fact, it is much, much older than you or I, although maybe not quite as old as Chris Chelios, the dirty defenceman for the Red Wings (I am a little bitter over the Oilers loss tonight in double overtime!). While I may not have cured the common cold, discovered amoeboid life forms living on the frozen wastelands of Pluto, or even learned the art of walking, I have discovered a truth that has a significant role in my life. You see, I have discovered a cure for worry. For those of you uneducated in the area of children's stories, the picture is of Mr. Worry, a character from a series of books that I greatly enjoyed as a young child.

For those of you who have known me for quite some time, you have probably realized by now that I am a classic worrier, and always worry about every little detail in any given situation, as I like to have some control and structure in my life. This is something that has annoyed me to no end, yet until recently, I had found no way of banishing worry to, say, the damp and dank shadows of Mirkwood (for those of you J.R.R. Tolkien fans), or some other distant place. But over the past couple of months, my life has been increasingly more worry-free, and I only realized the reason for this in the past week or so.

It all has to do with placing your complete trust in God, and surrendering your life into His hands for His purposes. While I am often still guilty of trying to do things my own way, I am learning to trust God more and more instead of my own abilities. And, to my great delight, I have found that when you give up control, it is almost impossible to worry about the future, or anything for that matter, because you are not in control anymore and can do nothing to change things. When Jesus said, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34), I had always thought that, at least in my own life, this was an impossible task. And when we are relying on our own abilities, this is an impossible task. We will constantly be asking ourselves "What if I'm not good enough?" or "What I make a complete fool of myself?" or "What if...(fill in the blanks with any situation/question)". When we rely on ourselves, of course we will worry, cause in theory whether we are a raving success or a dismal failure depends on our actions. Yet when we place complete trust in God, we can take comfort in the fact that he has a plan for our life, and that it is the best plan. Nothing we can do of our own strength could ever add anything to God's great plan, so why worry about it? In Proverbs it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." What a comforting thought that is!

So if you are like me and find yourself constantly worrying about everything and anything, try giving up control to God, and see what happens. I am by no means saying this is an easy or pain-free process, but it is a rewarding one. It is a process that takes a lot of time, so don't give up. But with an all-powerful God in complete control, what is there that we could possible worry about?