WE CAN CHOOSE TO WORRY AND FEAR OR WE CAN TRUST GOD

Although ways exist for us to avoid worry, the best way is to trust God through His Word and Spirit.

Eternal Perspectives           by Sally Bair

Fear and the mind

I awoke with a start when the house alarm went off at midnight. Too afraid to turn on the bedroom light, I groped for a flashlight then tiptoed into the back porch to turn off the alarm. Quietly and with pounding heart, I checked all the doors and windows but saw and heard nothing.

The one place I hadn’t checked was the basement. I had grown up in the house and the basement had been my most feared place. But now I knew I had to go down there to check the ground-level window. Surely someone had tried to get into my house.

The electricity went off so I couldn’t use my phone. Should I make a dash for my car and go for help? No, afraid as I was, I chose to face my fear. As it turned out, the alarm was caused by a mouse that had chewed a wire at the basement sensor. Remember from my last week’s column that a proven 85 percent of our worries come to nothing.

God has given us brains that have the amazing ability to quiet our “worry circuit.” For instance, when we take several deep breaths while counting to ten, we can overcome stressful thoughts. And the more we practice that one remedy alone, the stronger our brain will become in helping us avoid worry.

Many of us worry and fret over circumstances. Even Christians who claim to trust God become fearful. But we don’t have to fear. Besides using such simple tools as counting to ten, our first defense should be to trust God at His Word. Over and over, the Bible tells us to be unafraid. And every day God continues to prove Himself as being trustworthy. The more we meditate on and memorize His Word, the less fearful we can become of the problems we might face. It requires diligence and persistence to develop such a habit, but the rewards are worthwhile.

One of my favorite verses is 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Lord, thank You for the spirit of power and love, and the gift of a sound mind. Help us to remember and speak Your Word, looking to You to help us overcome our fears and worries. . In Jesus’ name, amen.