Many might not know this, but I can be quite the worryguts. I tend to stress about little things. I find it difficult to just be STILL and allow things to take it’s course (#ThingsMarriedLifeTeachesYou). My husband could probably tell you stories about how I get when I do not know what’s happening next. Be it leaving dirty dishes over night or not knowing what I’ll be doing the next morning. For instance: a couple of days ago, we had some trouble with the water supply in our apartment (#LifeInIndia) and to make it worse, we had a bunch of friends coming over that evening. Naturally, I turned into a giant worrywart and spent my time trying my best to get my husband worried about it too. Obviously that did not work. My amused husband replied “Honey, I got this, I’ll take care of it”. As much as I eagerly wanted to trust him a 100%, the pessimist inside me wouldn’t let me and I planned backups just incase.
This is true for most of us. Most likely you are the same, or relate to this on some level. When we are stuck in a situation that we cannot control, we feel handicapped. Like when we’re lost, and our GPS fails to work. We live in a time where we are dependent on immediate results. We need our super fast internet, we wish our journeys could be quicker, we expect immediate replies to our texts, and we want to know why our application is taking so long to be processed.
FYI, when I returned home from work, the water problem was fixed. And we had a wonderful evening with our friends. (#AwesomeHusband) At the end of my busy day, after all our friends had left I was reminded of Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God…”. What a beautiful verse, yet so ignored, especially when most applicable. In Hebrew, the word “Still” means to “Let go” or “Release”. In other words, God asks us to submit to him completely and acknowledge that He is in control.
Anxiety leads to stress. Stress leads to fear. Fear leads to depression.
Anxiousness and fearfulness go hand in hand. Research shows that we have upwards of 50,000 thoughts a day. Think about that! Now how many of these thoughts are in fact happy and uplifting? Or are they mostly consisting of “I can’t believe I messed up, I’m such an idiot, I can’t do it, Life is so hard, I’m such a failure, I’m a fraud, I’m too old, I’m too young….. ”
While the world is constantly barking in your face telling you that you need to be busy, God your creator is whispering saying “Be Still”. It isn’t easy living in this loud and busy world and yet follow the instruction of that gentle voice. But we know it is the best thing to do.
Have you ever been intimidated by silence? I’ve had that feeling, and I’m not fond of it. Silence causes me to address issues that I might be running away from. I choose to rather fill them with mind-numbing internet surfing, television or reading. Please don’t get me wrong! I’m not claiming that any of these are wrong. However, when I use these as excuses to fill a void it only harms me. Lost opportunities, lost relationships, lost dreams.
When we realize that we are truly incapable of controlling life, we can surrender our will to God’s will. It may be a matter of finally saying we trust Him. This will open the door so that we may experience the fullness of all God wants and has for us. After all, He is our Creator and has a perfect plan for us when we let Him orchestrate it.
A song that I usually listen to when I get anxious is “Letting Go” by Steffany Gretzinger. The part that always gets me is “And You remind me of things forgotten. You unwind me until I’m totally undone. And with Your arms around me Fear was no match for Your love. And now You’ve won me” You unwind me till I’m totally undone.. Complete surrender and letting go of our fears, our thoughts and our anxiousness.
So I’m going to leave you with this: The next time you are bombarded with fearful and anxious thoughts that are raging within you like a violent storm, do as Jesus did. Silence those thoughts by saying, “Peace, be still.” When you need strength and help, let go and rest in God. “Be still and know that I am God..”
This post was first published here on the author’s blog.
