When I was a child I used to think, actually I used to stay awake at night “thinking” from the time I was a toddler. I am sure this dismayed my parents. “My tummy hurts, can you bring me a drink of water?”
“What are you doing still awake?”
We found out later I did have food allergies which validated some of the “my tummy hurts” times. But other times I was “thinking”. Sometimes I was thinking about good things, events to come that I was excited about. Trips to our cousins, birthday gifts or saving enough allowance to finally buy the doll for myself were some of those wakeful thoughts. Other times I was “what-ifing”. I am going to Sue’s house tomorrow after school, what if this happens or that. What if I miss the bus. If I talked to my mom about these “what-ifs” she sometimes told me that I was borrowing trouble.
As an adult I continued to do this. When I became a Christian the Bible teaches us to not worry but to pray about things and then turn them over to God. Great idea that sometimes isn’t easy to implement. I’d give something or someone to God and pretty soon find I’d taken them back again to “wart” over. I wonder if that’s where the term worry wart came from? As I grew older in the Lord, I got a bit better at releasing worrisome things to Him. I had seen His faithfulness in circumstances and learned that I really could trust Him. There were always the relapse times too. It was one of those times when I felt He was whispering to me:
You are so filled with questions – some necessary and pertinent. Some you’d do better without, for your own anxiety. You are learning the difference even now. Your mind shall be refreshed and renewed as you focus on Jesus and ask. I am with you to teach, strengthen and empower you in His name. Be flexible in my Spirit and when in doubt, ASK ME. I won’t leave you in doubt. Praise be to God most High for His incomparable gift, His Son, Jesus Christ, your Lord.
He and I have come a long way together over the years. I am still learning and growing but am thankful that my trust in Him has grown so that I am not “borrowing trouble” nearly as much as I used to. Mom lived to see this era in my life and I am sure she was definitely relieved, I know I was.
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This is a very good article. My mother always said that to me also and it has been one of my biggest Spiritual Battles in my life. It is hard to draw the line between checking out a situation to which you sign your name, to a perfectly foolish concern.Sometimes these things seem to be intertwined. GHlad you wrote this .
