The full Serenity Prayer - a great resource to combat anxiety

I find that using the Serenity prayer is a great way of reducing anxiety in my life. The full version of the prayer is very helpful and teaches us to trust in the Lord's work in our lives. If you are struggling with worry at the moment, then I invite you to pray this prayer as often as you need to.

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace,
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it,
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will,
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen."

Matthew 6:27 - Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 

Living in Grace

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Consider the birds

Following on from yesterday's post, where we spoke about being focused on Jesus, we take note of another place in the Bible, where this word is used. The writer to the Hebrews made use of the word 'katanoein', which is the same word Jesus used when he spoke to his followers:

"Think about the ravens! They neither plant nor harvest, they have neither storerooms nor barns, yet God feeds them. You are worth much more than the birds!" - Luke 12: 24

This is a call for us to do more than simply allow our brains to tick over, but rather it is a challenge to 'look and learn.' It is an invitation to 'consider' the example of the ravens or to be focused on what God does for them. Once we have done this exercise we will learn another spiritual insight, which will help us move forward in our faith.

Action: Are you able to find 2 minutes to 'consider the birds of the air' and to reflect on what this says to you about God's love for all of us?

Living in Grace

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Do not worry

I find the following words of Paul quite disturbing. 

"Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." - Philippians 4:6

They disturb me because of the many times I easily slip into worry mode. Afterall, I know this scripture - and you know this scripture, yet how many times do we still worry. It seems that worry becomes a default setting for many of us. 

This verse does however remind us of the gift of prayer. We are instructed not to worry, because we can make our requests to God. I suppose, it simply invites us to ask God to do the 'worrying' for us. 

What do you make of this verse? Do you also sometimes slip into worry-mode?

"And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?" - Luke 12:26

Living in Grace

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Do not Fret!

"Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;" - Psalm 37:1

I know that we don't use the word 'FRET' much anymore, but when we spend a little time dwelling on its meaning, one realises what a powerful word it is.

Fret can mean - “be constantly or visibly anxious” (verb)

Or it can mean - “gradually wear away something by rubbing/gnawing”

After doing a little digging around I realised it comes from an old English word ‘freton’, which literally means ‘to devour like an animal.’ And if we analyse, we conclude that this is what worry does to all of us – it eats us up from the inside. 

Question: What are you fretting about at the moment? Are you able to hand this over to the Lord?

Living in Grace

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Refuse to worry

"So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless." - Ecclesiastes 11:10

Here he goes again! Solomon comes to the staggering conclusion that even 'youth' is meaningless. I really feel sorry for him sometimes - it seems as if his depression was moving him deeper and deeper into a dark corner. 

When we read this last statement in the words of Eugene Peterson, it does make a lot more sense. The Message paraphrase states:

"You won’t be young forever.
Youth lasts about as long as smoke."

This now makes a lot more sense to me. All of us can remember our younger days as if they were just yesterday and we wonder where have the years gone. Solomon's message is very important for us to hold onto - life is short, so we should try not to WORRY and also to keep ourselves as HEALTHY as possible.

Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:27

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ...

What do you think?

Is it possible to quit worrying?

Living in Grace

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Work and worry

There are millions of people who would agree that their work includes a huge amount of worry. We worry about pleasing people at work. We worry about whether we will still have a job if the economy changes. We worry if our job is not satisfying us. We worry that we may not have enough money to pay the bills and should we look for a new job? Work and Worry go hand in hand it seems. And Solomon would agree:

"You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right!  You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it? As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless." - Ecclesiastes 2:21-23 (Good News)

Do you feel that you are also 'working and worrying' your way through life at the moment? If this is the case, then I offer you the wonderful words of Jesus as a help. 

Luke 12: 22 - "Then Jesus said to the disciples, “And so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body.

"Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?" (v.25)

Living in Grace

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Wildflowers

As you drive along the many beautiful roads in our Country you will notice that the wildflowers are slowly starting to appear. It may be a little early for Spring, but some of these flowers are showing off their splendour already. This reminded me of the reading from Sunday, where Jesus reminded his followers that God will take care of their needs.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving." - Matthew 6:30-33 (Message)

As you read these words today remember that God promises us these 3 gifts:

1. He will attend to us

2. He will take pride in us

3. He will do his best for us

Come, let us learn the art of 'relaxing' in the presence of Christ and trusting in his generous love.

Living in Grace

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Worrying what others think

How many times have you stopped yourself from doing something because you are worried what others may think of you? I know I have done this on a few occasions and I think I have lived to regret worrying too much about the opinions of others. Of course, there is also a positive to this whole scenario - we can save ourselves some trouble by thinking through some silly decisions, by wondering what our family or friends would think. However, in general, we worry too much about other people's opinions.

"The fear of human opinion disables;  trusting in God protects you from that." - Proverbs 29:25 (Message)

I think that the word Eugene Peterson chooses in this paraphrase is quite striking - he uses the word 'disables'. When we are fearful of what people think of us, we are not able to live out of a place of joy, but rather from a place of fear. It is that emotion that disables us.

What do you feel?

“You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.”
― Olin Miller

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
― Corrie Ten Boom

Living in Grace

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Coping with Anxiety

As we draw near to the beginning of Advent and the Christmas season you may be dealing with your own worries and great stress. Here is an article I wrote this week for Scripture Union Magazine entitled Coping with Stress. 

You may find it interesting. A lot of it is written from my own personal experience. Hope you enjoy it and find it helpful. Bless you.


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Big Shadow

"Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow." - Swedish proverb

I wonder if Jesus already knew that some of our worries are made much bigger because of their shadow and not really what they are? This Swedish proverb makes a lot of sense for us and especially those who have experienced something like this before. Think back to an issue that consumed your thought-life and energy for weeks, but failed to even materialise. It was such a waste of emotional energy, but still we were consumed with worry.

Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount are easy to understand - they are in plain language - but they are so much harder to live out. Ponder them from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase:

"...People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." - Matthew 6: 29-34


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An extra hour?

If you have ever found yourself worrying about something then today's post is for you. 
It is so hard not to worry about things - even when we deal with one issue, then inevitably another one crops up. 

Jesus had some solid advice for us and for his followers:

^"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" - Matthew 6:27
 
So there it is! 
Jesus is telling us that worry is not going to change anything. It won't even add 60 minutes to our lives. So, what do we do then? If we shouldn't worry, how do we deal with the situations that cause us sleepless nights? 

Jesus tells his followers that most of the things we worry about concern things in this world - things that are temporary - so he instructs his disciples to focus on Kingdom matters. By re-aligning our mind on things of God, we slowly start to get a better balance and a divine perspective.

I know that this is much easier than it sounds, but why don't we give this a try today. 
Seek first the Kingdom of God and then all these other things will be added to us.

Living in Grace
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Don't Worry

Such valuable insight and advice for living in today's times - even though this was written for people living 2000 years ago.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." - Matthew 6:30-33 (The Message)

Living in Grace
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What worry does to you

You have to stop and take notice of your diary when the quote on the bottom of the page says this:

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow;
it empties today of its strength." - Corrie Ten Boom

What are you worrying about today that is draining you and stopping you from enjoying God's blessings? I know that it is sometimes easier said than done, but we do need to take all our worries to God in prayer. Jesus invited us to come to Him with all our trials and struggles.

Luke 12:22 -  [ Do Not Worry ] Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.

Matthew 11:28 - Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Living in Grace
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Do not Fret

"Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,    like green plants they will soon die away." - Psalm 37

"Fret" is not a word we use much anymore, but we understand that it means 'to worry.' However, I think it means more than that - the definition of 'fret' is to be 'be constantly or visibly anxious.'  So these words from the Psalmist invite us not to be always consumed with anxiety, especially in light of people who are wicked. The implication is that they will receive their reward in due course.

Jesus used the same sentiment when he spoke to his followers in his great sermon on the Mount:
 
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34

Question: What is it that you are worrying about at the moment? How does today's Psalm help you to deal with your anxiety.

Living in Grace
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