Worry Is Like a Rocking Chair

i've been reading, along with a few other books, calm my anxious heart by linda dillow. there is a chapter called "worry is like a rocking chair" and it totally hit home with me. i tend to worry a lot, even over spring break. i worry about situtations at work and with friends, playing them over nad over in my head. i worry about my car, my marriage, friendships, money... you name it, i've proabaly worried about it.

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there were some quotes in the book that really stood out to me, helping me identify what worry is and how to overcome it:

when we worry, we're saying 'God can't.' if we are walking in anxiety, we're not walking in faith." p.123

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"the word worry is derived from an old anglo-saxan word meaning "to strangle or choke" the stranglehold of worry keeps a woman from enjoying a life of contentment and peace.

anxiety is that which divides and distracts the soul, that which diverts us from present duty to weary calculations of how to meet conditions that never arrive." p.127



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i found that i identified a lot with the definition anxiety. because i play scences over and over in my head and am distracted with how to handle a situation that i think might happen or one that has already happened- though i can do nothing with those situations at the time. the word stranglehold reminded me of how when i think about these things, i can't move or think, kinds of like if someone had a physical stranglehold on me, i could do nothing except this is all in my mind and i can take control and stop it.

  

if we trust that God will take care of us, even in those small situations. that he's looking out for us and taking care of us, we don't need to worry. that's not to say that every little things is going to go our way or that we won't make mistakes, but that God will help us {{psalm 46:5}}.

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on p. 130, Linda moves on to quote matthew 6:25-34 and then says,

"Jesus tells us five times in this passage to stop worrying. do you think He wants us to get the message? in these verses, jesus labels worry, or anxiety, a sign of a faith problem. he forbids anxiety and commands us to be women of faith {verse 30}. instead of being anxious, we are to fix our focus on God and his righteousness. verse 34 gives a key to wrry-free living. the living bible makes it crystal clear: 'so don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. live one day at a time.' certainly, we are to pray, plan, and prepare for tomorrow, but we are not to worry about what might happen. the load of tomorrow added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes eve nthe strongest woman stumble. we are to entrust all out tomorrows to him and just live today."

Do any of these quotes or verses stand out to you?