Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

Good morning, ladies!

Today’s title “Don’t Worry, Be Happy…does anyone remember that song from the 80s? Easier said than done, I’m sure many are thinking. How often do we worry about things that we can’t change?

About two years ago, Jason and I were living in our camper in Montgomery City. I went to the local doctor to establish care and have my annual exam. Everything was fine until they found a polyp. The small office wasn’t able to do anything about it, so they told me I needed to see a specialist in Wentzville, which is closer to St. Louis. I went home to the camper and began to plan for my funeral. This wasn’t the first time I had planned for my impending death. Years ago, I had severe dizziness and balance problems, so I assumed the worst and figured I probably had a brain tumor that was going to take me out. I’m embarrassed to say that I have had several other times when I worried myself into thinking about my demise!

What does Scripture say about worry? Quite a bit actually. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The very first thing we should do when we have a concern is to give it to God thru prayer. Going back to my polyp story, I sat in the camper all day dwelling on the problem until Jason got home. The first thing he asked me was if I had told any of the church ladies so they could be praying with me. Of course I hadn’t, I was too busy worrying. So, I reached out to several ladies, and they immediately started praying and a huge sense of peace came over me. I didn’t think about it anymore until the day of the biopsy, and that went well too, no cancer.

Prayer does change things, sometimes it’s outcomes, sometimes it’s our own attitude, but change happens. And these ladies prayed for me daily, checked in on me to ask if I was doing okay. This is why we need that support network around us. These are the burdens we can’t bear alone.

Matthew 6:34 tells us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” I think we often worry about things that are pretty unlikely to happen, and those are usually things that we can’t do anything about anyway. Worrying about tomorrow only ruins our joy in today. News and social media today tell us things that our grandparents would have never known about and therefore, would have never worried about. They didn’t know what was going on in other countries, so they didn’t worry that someone was going to drop a nuclear bomb on them. They didn’t know there was a super volcano under Yellowstone, so they didn’t worry that it would erupt and destroy a huge part of the US or cause a cloud of ash that would block out the sun and ruin crops for years. Some may think they were living in blissful ignorance, but I think their concerns were more basic like getting enough rain for good crops and they didn’t worry about global catastrophes.  Most concerns are things that we can’t fix, so let God take care of it.

Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” If you have a concern, give it to God. I wonder if the hardest part of giving it to God is the natural tendency to run back to the altar and pick it back up. When we give it to God, we have to trust that He will take care of it. It’s pretty much a guarantee that he’ll handle it better than we will ourselves. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to pray about it, we just shouldn’t worry over it.

We can worry ourselves to a point that we can no longer function properly. I believe Satan is probably laughing when we worry about things we can do nothing about. When we are paralyzed with worry, our focus is no longer on God. I’m not saying that there aren’t real mental health problems that cause ongoing worry, but I do believe that many of us do lose focus and allow ourselves to get carried away with our worry.

Matthew 6:25 tells us not to worry about basic things, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” God will provide for our basic needs. We’re not promised a mansion, designer clothes and steak every night, but our needs will be met if we trust Him and keep our focus in the right place.

This is why we need to be plugged in to a good church and surrounded by believers who will pray with us and for us. Pleasant Grove has a great prayer chain and many prayer warriors who pray constantly for those who need prayer. So, if you haven’t visited our little church on the hill, check us out, it’s worth the drive!

Lori Hug