What to Do with Worry?

by Charleen Burghardt

Update on my book:

Coming soon in August

Where Hope Rises is a devotional for those who have experienced loss—loss of a career, loss from trauma, loss of a friend or loved one. Each devotion includes a Scripture, a story, a guided prayer, and additional tools to help with grief. It offers bite-sized devotions when a book may be too much to read. The devotions will be a companion in your grief journey.

What to Do with Worry?

Life is full of worries, burdens, fears, difficult circumstances, troubles, and heartache. Life is complicated, messy, and unexpected.

What do we do with our worries?

I wonder if you are like me. I give my concerns to God and then quickly take them back.  

I share my concerns with God, placing them in God’s capable hands. I let go of those concerns, and peace comes. However, not long after, thoughts of worry float into my mind. I seize the fears back to mull over, and thus, those thoughts affect my emotions. I forget how capable God is of taking care of me.

But…. we have an invitation:

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT).

God invites us to give our cares over. The idea in the word “give” is to once and for all, throw those worries to God. The invitation is to cast our worries on God. The word “give” also has the idea of throwing a baseball. We can throw our concerns once and for all to God.

Once and for all, throw.

God invites us to give or hand over those messy things. The Almighty God knows all our distractions, harassments, and worldly concerns that keep us from sleeping at night.

What a comforting invitation to pass our anxieties, fears, heartaches, burdens, troubles, and problems to God!

An Invitation

I often imagine setting all my worries before the throne of God; this image helps me release my concerns. I picture a vast, majestic throne accessible to me. I discharge each concern, like rocks, and deposit them before the throne. My challenge is leaving the worries, but then I remind myself of how capable God is.

Sometimes, I take the trouble back.

Oops. Why did I do that? As a result, I repeat the process of laying my concerns before the throne.

Although I repeat the pattern, the intervals between letting go and taking back get longer. Usually, each release is extended until I can eventually totally let go. We can cast our cares on the throne because of God’s loving compassion and promises to provide for our every need.

We can cast our cares on the throne of God.

We are not forgotten, and our distresses are not forgotten.  God reaches down to regard our needs.

When we hand over our burdens, peace and rest permeate us.

Peace comes

Giving our troubles to God does not mean life will go perfectly planned, but we will have more peace. In addition, it means that we permit God to handle our concerns.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you (1 Peter 5:7).

Here is our challenge:

Name your worries and hand those anxieties over to Our Loving God. You may need to say them aloud or write them down in a prayer. Do whatever helps you to hand over your cares. Repeat the process if needed.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

We carry many heavy loads of anxiety, fears, and emotions that distract us from joy and peace. Please help us give you all the heavy burdens and lay them at your feet once and for all. May your peace strengthen us, and your grace sustain us. You are bigger than all our problems. Thank you for being a God who loves and cares. Amen.

Check out another post: Give Your Burden to the Lord

Grace Offers Hope,

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