Friday; August 30

One of the most often addressed issues in my writing is stress and anxiety.  There is a reason for this – because I have an advanced degree in it!  When it comes to faith in God or knowledge of His Word I am at a pretty good place, but when it comes to anxiety I always have to be on my guard.  As I have gotten older I think I have gotten better about dealing with things in a less stressful way.  When I reflect on the stress reduction, I think there are two reasons for this:  First, I am beginning to realize that there are a lot of things I can’t do ANYTHING about.  Sure, I can worry and fret over them, but it doesn’t make one bit of difference in the things that I can’t change.  I am working on the simple philosophy – change what I can, adapt to what I can’t.  The second lesson is that there are fewer important things in my world.  The older I get and the more I see, the less of it really makes that much of a difference to me.  I haven’t abandoned all of my concern for life because there are some things that will play an important role in my future, but when I feel the twinge of anxiety I am trying to ask myself if the outcome of the issue is really all that important.  If not, I will still try to do my best, but will strive to be satisfied with what I have been able to accomplish.
Folks, I know the biblical instructions on living a life free from anxiety, but if you are like me it can be tough to accomplish day-in-and-day-out.  Let’s work together to encourage each other to life the good life and depend upon God to make things right for us.  By faith, we know He can and He will – we just need to remember it more often.
Think About It!

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