Category: Worry

 

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition. With thanksgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds.

Wow, where has the blog week gone? I feel like I just sat down to write my first post, and here I am writing the final one. I suppose what they say about time is true. It does fly by when your having fun! On that note, let’s recap… shall we?

On Monday, we focused our attention to Matthew 6:25. There we found The Lord instructing us to ” not worry”. Although it is natural to worry, if we do so for any length of time, we essentially do not trust in his plan for our lives. Tuesday we talked about 1 of 3 tools that The Lord has given us to combat worry, and that is The Bible. Not only does it give us clarity, direction & ammunition, but the truth in every word on every page gives us hope. Wednesday, we touched on the second tool, which is meditating on his word. By focusing on 1 scripture that pertains to our lives we not only take the focus off of whatever it is that we are worried about, but we gain strength from it. Today, we will be talking about the third tool and that is prayer.

In Philippians 4:6-7 The Lord instructs us to not worry, but to pray about everything. By doing so, he assures us that we will have peace that will guard our hearts and minds. My friends, we have a direct line of communication with The Creator of The Universe. The good news about this is that he is always available, and he is excited to hear from us. In fact, he wants to hear about the good, the not so good, and any request that we may have. He even wants to hear about what is worrying us. Thankfully, there will never be a bad connection or a line being busy or disconnected. He is available anytime, anywhere and for anything. I don’t know about you but I, for one, take full advantage of this. I thank him as I’m leaving the grocery store with a basket full of groceries. I thank him for the heater when its cold or the air conditioning when its hot. I go to him for EVERYTHING! Just ask my children. They think it is hilarious, at times. I sometimes wonder if he does, too. But, all kidding aside, I believe this is the greatest tool there is.

So, when was the last time you prayed? Perhaps it was a simple thank you, which is great! Our father in heaven does not care how long you pray or how you even do it, he just wants to hear from you. For me, when I am starting or ending my day, I begin praying by thanking him for all of my blessings. Next I repent by asking for forgiveness for any sins that I have committed. Then, I ask for whatever is on my heart. Finally, I listen. Yes, he responds! Thank you, Jesus! Did you see what I just did there? 😉

Well, I hope this week has helped you in some way.  I have really enjoyed creating the content, and hearing from you guys via comments, messages or emails. I pray that you all have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm! I’ll plan on meeting you back here on Monday, and on The Faith Filled Travelers Facebook page until then. Cheers!

Warmest regards,

Salina Watson

 

 

Joshua 1:8- Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

 I remember when I first began digging into The Lords word. It was so foreign to me. I could not understand any of it. It was as though I was reading a book written in another language. Determined to make it a daily discipline that I would do at the start of my day, I continued. With time and persistence, I began to notice a shift taking place. Not only was I understanding what I was reading, but I was able to navigate around it much easier, and I was memorizing scriptures in the process. In fact, I began quoting scriptures in my head without even realizing it. This brings me to the second tool that we can use when worrying arises and that is meditating on Gods words.

In addition to doing a devotional each morning that included reading several scriptures, I began to refer to The Lords word each time that I was faced with a situation in my life. An example of this for me would be fear. Not only did I find all of the scriptures pertaining to fear , but I focused on one in particular by writing it down on a note card, carrying it in my pocket and referring to it each time fear entered into my subconscious throughout the day. In other words, fearful thoughts prompted me to pull out my note card and redirect my attention to The Lords word.

At one point, fear had such a hold me that I was waking up in the middle of the night as a result of it. Thankfully, with time, I learned to meditate on the scripture that I had been focusing on when it did. In this case it was Isaiah 41:10- “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. I would repeat it over and over in my head until I fell back to sleep. This process not only brought me comfort, but it helped me to take the focus off of the thing that I was fearful of, and onto The Lord. See, our minds cannot fully focus on 2 things at one time; therefore, we must choose what we will direct our attention to. Yes, we have a choice. Although thoughts like fear and worry may come, we don’t have to allow them to stick around. Instead, we can focus on what we know to be true, and for me, that is The Lords words.

Friends, if you don’t get anything out of this post, please get these 2 things. First, The Lords words are not just words. Instead, they are powerful tools that he has given us to use for clarity, direction, and ammunition, if you will.  Second, although thoughts, like worry inevitably come to mind, we do not have to entertain them. The only power that ANYTHING has over us, including worry, is the power that we choose to give it. By worrying about something, we essentially choose to give power to it. Why? Why would we choose to waste our precious time on worrisome thoughts when they do not serve us in anyway?

With that in mind, please take sometime to consider what I have said today. Perhaps, you can write down a scripture or two of your own. Or, maybe even come up with a similar idea to do, instead. If you do, and you want to share, please comment below or send me an email. I would love to hear from you. In the mean time, I will plan on seeing you back here tomorrow. Take care!

Warmest regards,

Salina Watson

 

 

 

Matthew 11:28-  ” Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

 

Have you ever found yourself laying in bed attempting to go to sleep for the evening, or being woke up in the middle of the night worrying about something that was going on in your life? Perhaps it wasn’t even something that was actually happening at the time, but rather something that had the potential of happening as a result of something else. What about being in the middle of a task physically, yet checked out mentally due to worry? Well, as a wife, mother, and daughter, there have been more times than I care to admit where this has been the case for me.

In 2010, I remember being in ICU with our daughter, Morgan. On this particular day, it was just the 2 of us in her dimly lit hospital room. She had been lying in her bed for 3 days in coma state shortly following a round of high dose chemotherapy. Although members of her medical team were in the room often, and we had tons of support from friends & family, I felt like we were alone. I mean, ALL  alone. As though we were the only two left on the planet. Sitting in the rocking chair bedside, all sorts of thoughts began running through my head. Will she pull through ? If she does, will she be the same?  How is all of this affecting Mariah & Montana (Morgan’s siblings)? Thoughts like this and more consumed me. That is, until I heard a gentle whisper, which brings me to the first tool that can help us when we find ourselves worrying, which is The Lords words.

After several days of sitting in that room watching her lay in the bed without a single word or movement, worrying and wanting desperately to do something to change the situation, I felt led to pick up the Bible that was sitting on the table next to her. It had been there for the 3 days, and although I noticed it, I never gave it much thought. Sitting down with it in hand, I began to read scriptures out loud. Two things happened shortly after I did. First, I began to draw strength from it. Although I still had no idea what the end result would be, hope began to rise up on the inside of me. Secondly, and most importantly, Morgan began to move just a little. After a bit longer, she started making subtle sounds. As you can imagine,  I was ecstatic! It was on that day that I truly began to understand just how powerful his words are, and experienced first hand, the peace that comes from seeking him. By sharing this, I hope you will too.

The Bible is one of the 2 most effective tools that we have to combat worry. His words not only direct us in regards to worrying, as they do all things in this life, but they have the power to change them, also. The good news is, in a world filled with technology, it is more accessible now than ever. With the creation of Bible apps like YouVersion, we can now gain access to The Lords words by a tap on our phones. Not only that, but we can utilize devotionals & Bible studies, too. One of my daily disciplines is to read a devotional each morning, and to read all of the scriptures that go along with it. This helps to build my spiritual muscle, and if you will commit to it, it will do the same for you!

So today, if you find yourself worrying about something that you have no control over, I am going to encourage you to reach for the Bible . Whether it is book or computer based, begin to focus your attention to his words. If you do not know where to begin, start by researching the word “worry” in the concordance found in the back of the book, or do a search on “worry” in the app. There you will find all of the scriptures related to the topic.  By doing so, I believe that you, like I, will begin to draw strength and encouragement from it. Also, if you would like to have someone join you in prayer in regards to something specific, please comment below or send me an email. I take prayer request very seriously, and would love the opportunity to pray for you! On that note, lets plan on picking up here tomorrow, okay? Make it a great Tuesday!

Warmest regards,

Salina Watson

 

 

 

 

(Photo credit-Montana Watson)

 

  Matthew 6:25- Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

 Good Monday morning, my friends! I’m so glad that you decided to join me. I hope you had a great weekend with your friends & family, and that you managed to sneak in a little time to rest.  The Watson’s certainly did. Although there were a few things that we both needed and wanted to do and did,  we were able to take advantage of some much needed down time, too! The time not only allowed us to rest our bodies and gear up for the week ahead, but it gave me some time to reflect on the topic that I wanted to share with you, which is the topic of worrying.

  How many times over the past week would you say that you caught yourself worrying about something? If your honest, likely many. Perhaps it was about something small, such as how you were going to accomplish all the task on your agenda for the day. Or, maybe something more like a recent life changing event that has taken place within your home. Do you feel like the time that you spent worrying about whatever it was or is helped you in any way? Did it help to accomplish the task or take away the burden? Probably, not. So why then do we waste precious time on worrying, if there is no chance of it changing the outcome?

Although I believe worrying is natural for us all, I also believe that it often stims from outside sources. Think about the news for instance, I don’t know about you, but I can turn it on at any given time, which is rare, and have an opportunity to worry as they speak of all the things that are going on in our community, country…world. Better yet, I can have an opportunity to worry about the things that could potentially happen as a result of them. From the foods we eat that have the potential of harming us to the crimes that are taking place, there are many opportunities to worry. I could go on and on with examples of this, but I think you get my point.

Essentially, each time that we worry about something, we take on the responsibility of being God.  Now hear me, please. I don’t think that we make a conscious decision to do so, but in a round about way, that is exactly what we are doing. See, we can’t trust in The Lords plan for our lives and worry about the things that are going on around us or that could potentially happen, simultaneously. It just doesn’t work, and I believe this is the point that The Lord is making in Matthew 6:25. He has a plan for everything, and is in control of it all. In other words, he has it all worked out . Do not worry.

So, if worrying is something that we all do that comes natural, what are we supposed to do about it? Over the course of the next 3 days, we will dig into Gods word and find  answers to that very question. My goal is to equip you with some of the tools that are available to us that will help you to trust in The Lord more, and to worry less.  I hope you will stick around as we do just that! Have a great Monday, everyone!

 

Warmest regards,

Salina Watson