Aug 9, 2021
So, you’re trying to sleep, and it’s well after bedtime. But
you’re tossing and turning and unable to get comfy. You notice
you’re replaying the same scenario in your head. Some vision of
tomorrow, of what might happen, how a hope could be dashed. If
you’ve had this experience, you’re far from alone.
Researcher Lucas LaFreniere, Ph.D. said, “This is what breaks
my heart about worry. It makes you miserable in the present moment
to try and prevent misery in the future. For chronic worriers, this
process leads them to be continually distressed all their lives in
order to avoid later events that never happen. Worry sucks the joy
out of the ‘here and now.’”
In his study on worry, participants were asked to record their
worries and how they caused distress and interfered with their
lives. Each night at 10 pm, they reported how much time they spent
thinking on each specific worry throughout the day. Then, 20 days
after that period, they reviewed each entry and reported whether
any of the worries had become true.
The good news is, LaFreniere’s study found that in his survey of
worrisome people, 91.4 percent of their worries never actually
happened.
Worrying caused only more misery and did nothing to help the
worriers handle whatever they had been worrying about. This is
mainly because the hotly anticipated events never transpired.
We are then reminded that Jesus did in fact know what he was
talking about when he said:
“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your
life?” ~ Matthew 6:27
So
Jesus teaches an important truth on worry, however this question
arises at the practical level: How can one not let
worry gain control of their life?
In
Philippians chapter four, the apostle Paul addresses this topic at
the conclusion of his letter to a stressed out group of
Christians. In this helpful section, Paul lays out a plan to
not only help Christians manage worry, but ultimately discover
God's peace. Do you want to learn more? Give a
listen as
we dive into some of the most relevant teaching for living in a
world of worry, we know that you will find it to be very
helpful!