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How to Stop Obsessive Worrying

Worrying Has Become A National Pastime

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Worrying has become a national pastime. Whether you’re worrying about the upcoming election, your health, having job stability, getting a job, or making sure your kids are taken care of and getting everything they need, there’s no shortage of material for anxiety and worry.

The Anxiety And Depression Association Of America, states that anxiety disorders are the most common mental diagnosis in the United States. They cost the country $42 billion a year, and usually when you find anxiety you find depression. People with an anxiety disorder are also three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for a psychiatric illness.

For those stuck in anxiety and worry, it can almost feel tiring to be told the importance of “letting go,” “relaxing” and “unwinding.” While this advice is ultimately right, we struggle to “get there.”   Here are some ways to help:

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Everyone Has A Story

Give each other patience, kindness and love

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Everyone has gone through something. They have a story. When you look at a person remember that they have gone through something that has changed them.  We are all in process.  Give each other patience, kindness and love.

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears – Philippians 1:6

No Matter where you are in your story, know 2 things

  • God is with you – You are not alone.  Let that sink in.  Live in that awareness every day.
  • He will complete what He has started – God is involved in your life.  He has started something that He will complete.  It is working… Trust Him

Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you – Deuteronomy 31:6

God is with you – You are not alone. Let that sink in. Live in that awareness every day
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How You React

Learn To Respond Not React

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Sometimes are reaction to the mess creates an even bigger mess.  Your reaction to any event determines the level of growth that happens in you and the people you love.  Learn to respond not react.  The difference is attitude.  When you react it is from pain and fear, and that is usually what you give to others, pain and fear.  When you respond you are being proactive with the desire to give solutions, hope and love.  Learn to put a few seconds pause in and respond not react.  

Your reaction to any event determines the level of growth that happens in you and the people you love
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Seeking God – Pt 2

Disciplines for a spiritual life in Christ

seeking God

In the post Seeking God I talked about trying to understand what a relationship with God looked like.  The search of trying to live in a vibrant, real and intimate relationship with God lead me to discover the Spiritual Disciplines.  They have become for me a way that makes my heart available to experience God.  So often my desire was to get something from God not experience a relationship with Him.  My love for Him was marked by getting not giving.  

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How To Deal With Discouragement And Disappointment

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We have all experienced discouragement and disappointment.  The struggles and pain we experience create feelings of loss.  We lose confidence and enthusiasm and we become disheartened.  Here are some causes and cures guided by scripture to help you overcome discouragement and disappointment.

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Give Love

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Some of you have let life push you down. You’re not pursuing what God has put in your heart. But God is saying, “It’s your time.”  How do you live in this moment?  Learn to know and understand that love is an absolute.  You must love God, others and yourself.

Hope is a confident expectation.  When the world and the pain of our past says “give up, don’t even try”, Hope says “try one more time.”  Be willing to hope and love.

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Create Your Playlist

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“I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” – Philippians 4:8. It is important to recognize that you get to choose what you dwell on or think about. The best way I know to direct your thoughts is to focus on things that give life.  I have tried to use the idea of a playlist. Most of us have a playlist. A list of songs that describe your interests and moods that make you come alive. I have several playlists that help me to find clarity and direction.  Several of the playlists are songs but many are scripture.  Here are three songs that I listen to daily:

Your word is a lamp to my feet
    and a light to my path – Psalms 119:105

The playlist that I go to the most is one that is scripture. Most of my scripture playlists are in my head, not in a digital file. I think we must create things that can measure our thoughts and fears against truth. Creating a biblical playlist or list of scriptures will develop that yardstick.  Here are some scriptures I meditate on regularly to bring myself back to calm when I get anxious, stressed or fearful.

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5 Ways To Listen So You Can Understand

Understand Not Reply

There is a difference between truly listening & waiting for your turn to talk.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.  Taking the time to listen and understand can communicate love and respect sometimes more than our spoken words. We need to feel heard and understood to create the safety of intimacy. Learn to develop an attentive attitude willing to listen with  your heart with the desire to understand before being understood.  Here are five things your can do to help you listen better.

“There is a difference between truly listening & waiting for your turn to talk.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

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10 Scriptures To Calm Your Anxious Heart

We Need To Be Reminded That God Is In Control

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The most frequent command or teaching in scripture was not to be holy, or to love one another but to not worry, to have no fear or to not be anxious.  In fact, there are about 365 mentions of this given by Jesus in the New Testament.  We might think that Jesus is only trying to help us to alleviate our anxieties but He is actually commanding us not to worry.  We constantly have to look to the Lord, read His word and meditate on His promised comforts in the midst of the chaos of life.  We need to be reminded regularly that God is with us and He really is in control.  Here are some scripture to mediate on that can remind you of the truth that He is an ever present help, you don’t need to be anxious and afraid – Psalms 46:1-2

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” – Matthew 6:34 ESV

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad – Proverbs 12:25 ESV
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3 Ways to Love Your Wife Like Christ Loves The Church

a love marked by giving, not getting

Ephesians 5 (1)

The love you have for your wife should be marked by giving not getting.  Move toward her to serve and give not consume.  Here are 3 Ways to Love Your wife like Christ loved the church.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her – Ephesians 5:25