Being Anxious for Nothing?

The Bible says to “be anxious for nothing” but can you?

I know that I often have troubles with this one.

Anxieties are a part of life. I spend a lot of my time working to keep my anxiety level down. At times, it takes a lot of effort.

I recall one time in my previous work life when I was doing my job in the courtroom during a trial and my equipment had failed me, but I was able to resolve the issue and get everything back. During the break one of my co-workers commented on how I had been calm but I told him that although I appeared calm on the outside that I was freaking out on the inside.

I'm sure that all of those years of suppressing my anxieties have contributed to my high blood pressure issues.

I know the Bible tells us not to worry but I still do. Why is that? Honestly, it’s hard to let go and exactly how do we do that?

Psalms 94:19 tells us that “In the multitude of my anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul.”

What does THAT mean?

Our anxieties are also addressed in 1 Peter 5:7 when it tells us to “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

How does one “cast” it?

There isn’t a tangible way anyone can just “cast” their cares and anxieties on God and let his comforts delight our souls. I have no way of explaining this to you. I do know from firsthand experience that when I have gotten to a place where I have accepted the peace of God for my heart that I wasn’t anxious anymore. When I have fully and completely put my trust in God, I have found peace from my worries. I won’t sugar coat it or give you some Christian cliche about this. It isn’t easy to do but once you do, you will understand.

Worrying doesn’t do anything for us. We all worry but have to know that when we have reached to the end of ourselves that we can’t control everything, but we can relinquish control to the one who is in control whether we like it or not.

The only way I have been able to "cast" my cares and anxieties on Christ was to just take a mental timeout in the middle of my worrying and refocus my mind and emotions. I have to remember that I can put my trust in God to take care of me regardless of the outcome. Many times, I find songs which encourage me and renew my faith. I can tell you that every time I have needed a song that I have found it. Over a year ago when I was cut from my job, you can imagine the anxiety and worry I was going through. During that time, I found the song "Desert Road" by Casting Crowns which I played at least once a day to help me through it and keep my focus when the anxieties overcame me.

That's what has worked for me. It may be something different for you, but you just have to find what that is. It's never easy but when the load on us gets heavy, we must find a way to get through it.

Life Experiences Make Us Bitter or Better

If you have lived any length of time you have likely tallied up many life experiences both good and bad.  There are some that we cherish in our memories and others that we wish we could erase. 

One thing is certain - rarely does life go as we planned.  

Stuff happens.  

I can only look at my own life and see the twists and turns my path has taken me to where I am today.  These life experiences can either make us better or make us bitter people.  The idea of this blog came when I saw a man walking through a parking lot with a scowl on his face.  It looked like a permanent one etched with years of life which made me wonder if life had dealt him some bad experiences and hardened him.  

We are all formed by the experiences of our lives.  I can tell you from personal experience that I haven't always handled some experiences very well nor have I always made wise decisions.  Those decisions have shaped my direction in life and what I have left of it.  What I have done in the past - both good and bad - are in the past.

I do not attend class or family reunions because people have your frozen in time.  To most of my relatives, they know me as "Little Milton" because my grandfather was also Milton.  They only remember as the "Little Milton" version of me and haven't seen me since I was a teen.  I cringe when they hug me and say they love me.  Love me?  They don't even know me now!

Life changes us. We are no longer the frozen photo in the family album or the class yearbook.   

So how has life changed you?  Are you a hardened or are you a better version of yourself?  We all make those choices but it's never too late to become a better person.

God has given us free will to make our own decisions.  It is important to remember that God will be with us through it all.  Sure, we need to trust God but we can't expect Him to make them for us.  He can make all things work together for good in our lives.  I know that I have done that in my own life. I was once totally OCD with being in God's will and driving myself crazy to make the absolute right decision and when I didn't it really brought me down.  I have learned that God is much like our GPS apps.  Yes, we won't always make the right decision but He will get us back on track again.  

In Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Remember to Remember" he sings:

And now I'm looking out at the road that's waiting
But my eyes can only see so far out ahead of me
As sure as the sun will shine there'll be more mountains I will climb
And more deep dark shadowlands where desperate faith is all I have
Until I'm home, I'm resting all my hope and trust
In the only One whose name is: God with us

On this life's road, we do the best that we can.  Can't look back with regrets but press forward to be a better version of us.

Adulting Anxieties: Trading Cars

For me, the two things about being an adult that I painfully dread are buying/selling a house and trading cars.  I have rarely had good experiences with either.  When the time comes my anxiety is extremely high.  I wish someone could just put me to sleep and when I wake up it is all done.  

Recently, we have come to the place where we needed to decide about our automobile.  The manufacturer warranty is going to run out soon and any future repairs would be costly.  We decided to trade.  

I can never understand why it takes so long to get this process done.  It has always been where the salesman gives the estimate but then when you go to the finance person, the price zooms out of the range you were expecting.  Adding this and adding that and a lot of things you really don’t need but you feel like you have to have.  It’s crazy.

Once the salesman asked what payments I was wanting.  Later, the payment turned out to be far out of range that I could afford.  I told the salesman that it wasn’t anywhere near any ballpark.  I learned early on that they can deceive you.  I will be fair and not lump all cars sales people in the same boat but I have encountered many.  I just don’t like the whole process.  I have spent an entire day in a dealership which is totally ridiculous.  

In my world, I would go to the dealership and pick out a car and test drive it, if I liked it then I would go to a kiosk and select what I wanted and enter all of my information.  (Each car could be assigned to a salesman so I wouldn’t want to cut them out.)   Then just sign everything electronically and leave with the car.  None of this waiting for the next person to do something.  In this day of the technology that we have, there is no reason this couldn’t be done.  

Again, I’m not saying ALL car salesman or finance people are bad.  I’m mostly saying the process could be improved.  

We will talk about buying/selling a house in another blog.