W for turn Worry into Worship

#AtoZchallenge
To worry is human. We would prefer that our plans pan out perfectly with no hitches. We wish that all our endeavors paid off with success. We would have loved it if life were a bed of roses…without thorns. But reality isn’t as perfect as fantasy. The harsher the reality, the more we tend to worry.

Worrying is an experience familiar to everyone; not exclusive to a particular age group, social status or race. The child is worried about the test that he feels he’s not so prepared for. The college graduate is worried about his job prospects. The adult single is worried about not being able to settle down. The married couple worries about the difficulty about conceiving a child. The parent is worried about the bad peer influence on his child. The middle-aged is worried about life after retirement. The old is worried about health issues. Everyone has issues to be concerned about.

As much as we are compelled to worry about the thousand and one issues that life births out, it is obvious it is a wasteful investment of our time and energy. Worrying paints a gloomy picture with no hope of salvation. We begin to feel like we were born unlucky and undeserving of the fortunes others may be enjoying. We spend sleeping hours trying to find answers to many ‘what if’ questions as if they were alternatives. Worrying doesn’t provide any solutions to the problem, only ripple effects of the present predicament.

Take it or leave it, some things are out of our control no matter how hard we try to handle them. For people of faith, it makes more sense to cast our cares on God who has the power to change situations which are naturally impossible. When we offload our burdens and remind ourselves about how faithful God has been to us so far, God replaces the worry in our hearts with His peace. When we trust God to handle our concerns, He steps into our situation and turns it into our favor.

When things are going well, praise and worship is easy to do because our hearts are light with jubilation. But when our hearts are heavy with worry, worship becomes more of a conscious effort. Worry plants doubts in our minds about whether God can act on the situation as urgently as we would want Him to.  The truth is, worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It moves back and forth but doesn’t go anywhere. Worrying about a frightening medical report does more harm than good. One stands the chance of dying before the stipulated time because of the effect of worry on the body.

(c) Google Images.

Worship God for who He is and praise Him for what He has done for you. Remind yourself of who He is: a Deliverer, Protector, Provider, Father, Friend, Healer and every other capacity in which He once solved your problem.

What you give focus to, you give it power. By worrying, you give the problem the power to torment you. Worrying is unhealthy both physically and spiritually. If you turn it over to God, you give Him access to intervene in your situation.

Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks. Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus – Philippians 4:6-7 (GW).

© Josephine Amoako 2016