Living Above Worry and Stress

Worry and stress both sink their roots into one thing. Fear. Will I get there in time? What will others think? How will this ever work? The questions that plague us day in and day out, worrying at our hearts until they're frayed and desperate, are not the kind of questions that Jesus asked. "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.... If then God so clothes the grass...how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith" (Luke 12:27-28).


I have struggled with stress for a very long time. I'm a perfectionist at heart, so when anything goes wrong, or it just looks like it might go wrong, I become a basket case. Yet I know that a life of tension is not what God wants for us! So when I saw this Bible study guide by Women of Faith, Living Above Worry and Stress, I knew that it was the right thing to get.

I love the format of the WoF study guides. Engaging stories and personal narratives are sprinkled through clusters of thought-provoking questions, with plenty of blank space to scribble down your thoughts and ideas. At the end of every chapter there is a little "trinket to treasure," a picture of an item that is supposed to help you remember the lesson. The leader's guide at the back of the book contains extra information and clarity for nearly every question.

I just finished the guide this morning, and it has given me so many insights that I would love to share with all of you! If you deal with worry or stress at all then I highly recommend getting this book for yourself, but here is a "tasting dish" of insights I gleaned from my studies.

• So many times we lose our perspective and get caught up in 1,000,001 things, most of which are not vitally important. Make a catalog of your duties and responsibilities (regular events which must be planned, church involvement, work, homemaking, etc.). Put the world back in focus and get a grip on your schedule. 
• Fear is universal. When you're distracted by "what-ifs" and find no rest in your pillow, remember that some of the greatest heroes of the Bible (Jacob, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Peter) were all afraid of something. The Lord is our strength in these times, and He longs to take away our fears! What is your greatest fear and how can God dispel it?
• Do a character study on Mary and Martha in the Bible. They are mentioned in Luke 10:38-42, John 11 and John 12:1-8. Learn from these two women and record your insights.
• Feel like you need more joy? Worry throttles joy. Humility and thankfulness banish worry.
• This illustration put things in such clear and relatable terms for me, "Many of us scoop more onto our plates than we can handle in a day. It all looks good. A little more couldn't hurt. But pretty soon we realize our ambitions were bigger than our time. That's when stress begins to weigh us down. Do you have too much on your plate?"  
• Living in the moment. That's where the secret lies. If I'm concentrating on right now, I can see God's grace covering it. Move away from that towards stressing about the past or worrying about the future, and I'm disobeying God; I'm moving out from His protection. 
• When you feel the urge to frown, raise your eyebrows! It works wonders.

Flower for a Friend, a photo by Pink Sherbet Photography on Flickr. 

I won't say that this study guide has solved all of my stress and worry problems, but the scriptures I have studied and the stories I've read have emphasized three important things:

1. Stress and worry are not God's plan for me.
2. God is bigger than my stress and worry and wants to overcome them.
3. I must hand my fears over to the Prince of Peace every single day.

As homeschooled girls, we can take an awful lot on ourselves. The important thing is that we give it all to God. I hope that you will be able to conquer your worry and stress, through Christ who strengthens you!

Choose Your Friends Wisely

“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand 

the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation. ” 
―George Washington

{via google images}

In our lifetime, we will encounter a variety of people.  Friendships that we develop will be vast and varied.  There will be friends who make you laugh.  Those who you have deep heart to heart conversations with.  Ones you have known all your lives.  Or simply friends God has placed in your path that need to hear the Gospel.  You name it!

We need these friendships.  It is important to have these relationships for the sake of fellowship and acceptance.  However, it can often be frustrating to have a "lack" of friends.


“Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; 
the more select, the more enjoyable.” 

― Louisa May Alcott

We shouldn't make friends just for the sake of having them.  Who we choose for our friends is very important...we must take time to consider it wisely.  As God tells us in His word, 

"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: 
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."
Proverbs 13:20

All too often people get into trouble by having "companions of fools."
We do not want that.  Most importantly, we need friends that walk with God and point us to Him.
These will have the greatest impact in our lives and prove to last the longest.

Another thing to do is pray about your friendships.  God will provide just the right amount of friends in your life that you need.  Too often, the case is that true friends are hard to come by.  In the end, He will be your truest friend {Proverbs 18:24} and always knows what is best for you.  If we go through life with even just one true friend, we should count ourselves blessed!  

         {Want to hear more about my thoughts regarding friendships?  Read this post!}  

Guilty Prayers

Every night, before I lay my head on my pillow, I say the Lord's Prayer. I'm usually tired from a night spent cleaning offices with my family; it's probably 11:30 PM or 1:00 AM, and even if I was wide awake a few minutes ago, my eyes will start to droop as soon as I get underneath those warm covers and start "My Father who is in Heaven...." Many, many nights, I realize with a pang that this is the first time that I've talked to the Lord all day long. That morning I woke up late, read a little, jumped on the treadmill, and kickstarted a day of running and doing and talking and running and working, without taking even a few moments to speak with the one who is responsible for every breath I take. And do I feel like plunging into a lengthy bout of intersession at this time of night? No, I want to turn off the lamp and wrap myself in homemade quilts, rolling around until I'm comfortable and drifting off to sleep.

Oh, the guilt. It's all-too-familiar. Sometimes I feel it after sitting down to pray for a relatively long period of time; when I'm finished I usually think, "Isn't there someone else I can pray for? Shouldn't I do this for a few more minutes?" That is why I paid attention to this passage when I ran across it this morning. It's from Emily Freeman's book Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life (which I am absolutely loving, by the way), and it shone a light on the way prayer might look under the old Law, and how it looks under Jesus' grace.

...there is a difference between the discipline of sitting down with God and the pleasure of knowing his voice. It is one thing to make yourself do something. It is entirely another to find pleasure in relationship. 'The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God' (Heb. 7:18-19 NIV). 

Let's stop for a moment and concentrate on what we just read, "the pleasure of knowing his voice," and "pleasure in relationship." When was the last time I felt real pleasure in my relationship with God? When was the last time you did? Every now and then I feel satisfied after praying, but that is probably a) because I'm proud of myself for actually dedicating time to prayer, and/or b) it's still accompanied by that sense of guilt and an I-should-do-this-more-often feeling that niggles at the back of my head like a greasy worm. But this kind of thinking is "weak and useless," a theology of burdens which no one can bear. How much prayer is "enough", anyway? If I spent 24 hours on my knees, maybe someone could find fault with me for not fasting as well! The Bible does not give us a detailed road-map for prayer, complete with on-ramps and rest stops.

Emily goes on to say this:

To wear the mask of the spiritual disciplines is to turn back to the old way. I could pray for five minutes or for two days and I would still be as righteous as I would be had I not prayed at all. But the amazing reality is that now I know I am righteous in Christ, there is new motivation to spend time in intimate communion. You and I can now go to him in freedom and joy, not to gain favor but because we already have it. 

"Intimate communion" in "freedom and joy," what a blissful thought! This is the kind of prayer like that I would like to have. What about you? Do you ever feel guilty because you "miss" your prayer time? Are you trying to earn your own righteousness by adhering to a law of your own making that stipulates how much quality time you should spend with God, or are you cultivating a vibrant relationship with him by speaking little things to him throughout the day, punctuated with longer sessions of intercession and digging deep into his Word? Structure and schedules are great things, and following Moriah's tip to set aside 10 minutes a day is a wonderful idea, but I'm learning that guilt is not bringing me any closer to my Father. I need to set aside what is "weak and useless" and pursue a relationship with the one who longs for my words and my listening ear. 

The Bottom of the Bed, a photo by Alyssa L. Miller on Flickr. 

Cry Out!

"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and
delightful than that of a continual conversation with God."
~Brother Lawrence

crista moriah photography

It is so important to develop a close relationship with our Savior.  He must become so broken hearted when we {sometimes, not even meaning to} distance ourselves from Him with our silence.  The other day, Jesus opened my eyes to what His heart must feel like when that happens and we do not have a regular prayer life with Him.  I wrote a letter about it, sort of like a heart to heart from God to us...

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My Child,

It's been quite awhile since I've heard from you.

My heart has grown very lonely from the lack of our conversations. 

Please cry out to me.  Your lips have been silent too long.  I need to hear from you!

Where have you been?  The stretch between us has grown so far.  Our hearts need to be reunited!  We must share every little thing with each other once again. You casting your burdens on Me, knowing that I will take them without hesitation. You sharing your hopes and dreams; Myself smiling, looking ahead at the future and deciding what is the wisest thing for you.

I miss you.  I want to be close to you.  I love you.  Cry out to me...soon! 

Love,

Your Father in Heaven

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The key to having a good prayer life is being disciplined about it. 

It seems as though when I try to have time with Him, things come up. Satan will not waste any opportunites to distract us from prayer, reading the Word, or anything that will benefit us spiritually.

Francois Fenelon once said, "Time spent in prayer is never wasted." How true are these words! Commit to praying for 10 minutes a day to begin with, then add a little more each day. Simple, right?

Sometimes, it's easy to view prayer as "just another thing to do" or a chore, but instead it should be an intimate part of our relationship with Jesus.  We should view our prayer time as precious moments to spend pouring out all of our hopes, dreams, and fears to His compassionate ears.  He cares.  He loves us dearly and longs for a close relationship with us!  As Jesus says to us in the Love Letter to us, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you..." {James 4:8} 

Once we start pouring our hearts out to Him, it creates a feeling of joyous freedom in our souls--

It causes us to draw near to God--it strengthens us!

crista moriah photography

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I believe it is important to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ as well.

So many times I have been encouraged by a friend saying that they are praying for me. 

It always seems to lift your spirits knowing someone cares about you.

"The greatest gift we can give to others is our prayers."

~Unknown

If there is anything you would like to share with me, please do not hesitate to drop a comment at the bottom of this post--I would love to be able to pray for you. :)

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Stay strong, dear sisters!  Let us strive to cry out to Him each and every day!