The Problem With Worry

Women can tend to internalize worry; at least I know I do. We worry about jobs, family, finances, health and a myriad of other things that prey continually on our minds. And now, with all that is going on globally, many of us are probably wondering, what next?

What next?

So far, our comfort zones have only been slightly affected in many cases, but that could all change in the blink of an eye. What if disaster struck in the U.S. or Canada? How would we take care of our families then?

I have watched in the past several weeks how the Japanese people have been patient and kind to each other, sharing what little they have with their neighbors. Would that happen here? People in North America are not always patient or giving in a disaster. My husband has told me often about a gas shortage in an area where he lived. It lasted only a few days, and yet he witnessed fistfights and other horrible behavior from people in the gas pump lines.

If that wasn’t enough to worry about, it seems lately that our world is facing ever-increasing problems. Prices for everything from electricity to food and gas are continually rising. In some places (like Canada, where I live most of the year), gas is so expensive that the distances many people drive to work make it difficult to make a living. For some, paying for gas to get to work can take up to two hours of pay before taxes! And, of course, even those jobs are not easy to find in today’s economy.

The tsunami and earthquake in Japan have created havoc not only there, but, due to the radiation leakage, who knows what the fallout will eventually be for the rest of the world? Then we have the unrest in the Middle East, which is ongoing and continually escalating. The list of troubles around the world and in our own country seems endless and at times frightening. The worries go on and on.

This continual worry adds stress to our lives and can affect our spiritual and physical health. Spiritually, it can distance us from God and erode our faith. Physically, it can cause a myriad of health problems.

Stop the worry cycle!

Stop! I may only be shouting it in my head, but it does help stop the immediate thoughts and start me thinking on a much more productive level. (Of course, on more than one occasion I didn’t even recognize I was worrying until my closest friend, my husband, told me to stop.) Once we’ve recognized and stopped (at least for the moment) the worry cycle, we need to turn to God for help.

Matthew 6:25-34 is a most helpful passage regarding worry. It reads in part: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? …

“For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Questions to help us refocus

In February 2011 Clyde Kilough gave a sermon titled “The Four Enemies of Faith.” From that sermon I gleaned a few questions I’ve been using lately that help tremendously when stressful situations tend to get me worrying.

1.         Do you believe God exists?

2.         Do you believe the Bible is His Word?

3.         Did Christ die for you?

4.         Did you die for Him (through repentance and baptism)?

5.         Does God know your situation?

6.         Did He promise He would never leave you or forsake you?

7.         Have you been working hard to do your part to solve this problem?

These seemingly simple questions can serve as a great help to refocus our energy in a positive way. After we have answered the questions and done our part, the one thing left for us to do is to ask God for His divine help. We have done everything we can and now need to put our faith in God, go to Him in prayer and trust Him to be there for us.

Will this take all the worries away? Maybe; maybe not. But it does certainly put them into perspective. We live in temporary bodies in a temporary world. By refocusing our minds and keeping our thoughts on God and His plan for us, we will be building our relationship with Him instead of tearing it down.

Gloria Diliberto lives in Saskatchewan, Canada, on a small, off-the-grid ranch with her husband. She is a mother and grandmother who enjoys hunting, horseback riding and crocheting in her spare time.