How do I trust God when I’m fearful or anxious?

Phil 4:6-7 in the NLT version of the Bible says,“Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Sometimes we spend a lot of time thinking about a situation and wondering why things are the way they are, how to make things better, or wonder what we could have done differently. From reading the verse above, that is not the way to overcome anxiety or fear in troubling situations.

Prayer is the key. The verse says don’t worry about anything. That seems like a hard task. Don’t worry about anything? There are so many things to worry about: family, friends, communities, health, finances, etc. You name it, we can worry about it. But God wants us to do something different. He is saying we don’t have to spend countless hours worrying. We don’t have to stress ourselves out. We don’t have to let stress wreak havoc on our minds and bodies. Our first action is to pray. “Pray about everything”. It seems to me every time we start to worry, we should start praying. It means making a change in the way we do things; developing a new habit. God is asking us to talk to Him about what’s going on.

And what do we get in exchange for getting to unburden ourselves to God? According to the verse above we get to experience God’s peace. A peace that will guard our hearts and minds. Sounds like we can’t lose. As we follow God’s instructions and His will, we get peace. I’m not saying it will be easy to let go of anxieties and fears, especially if you’ve be carrying them for a long time. I do think however it’s time to hand them over to God. And keep handing them over to God. Maybe at first it’s like manually shoveling heavy snow, handing over troubles little by little.  But maybe eventually it becomes like using a snowblower, everything just automatically is sent to God in prayer without having to do any heavy lifting.

Will you trust God with your troubles and experience His peace? How will you shine today?