I have a P31 devotion today and want to say hello and “welcome” if you found your way here through it! I’m so glad you stopped by!
I wish we could sit in a coffee shop and chat today.
I’d love to talk with you about things that are weighing you down or worries that are making you weary. They always seem to lighten when shared with a friend.
I’d tell you about the year I let my problems pile up and how all that pressure almost took me down. It’s all in chapter 9 of my book including the story about how I accidentally took my dogs medicine one morning.
In my devotion, I shared how God has been changing me and rearranging me. I also promised to share three steps to overcome worry and a practical way to physically give God your concerns! Since we can’t chat in a coffee shop today, I decided to share my heart in a short video post.
Message Notes: You can download my “Video Message Notes” in a PDF here or in a Word doc here. They include the points of my message, verses and blanks to fill in. {If you’d like to watch more FREE Confident Heart videos based on my book, click here.}
Let’s Connect & A Giveaway: I’d love to hear your thoughts and one thing you want to apply after reading today’s devotion and hearing the video message. Click “share your thoughts” right below this post and do just that. 🙂
Your comment enters you in today’s “Come to Me” stress-relief gift pack giveaway which ncludes a Bath & Body Works Eucalyptus Mint candle, God-iva Dark Chocolate and an Chamomile Lavender scented Anti-Stress Comfort Wrap that can be refrigerated or microwaved depending on your preference – my favorite home spa treatment!!
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I love your idea of writing your worries on cards and putting them at the cross! I will definitely do it! And your devotional was just what I needed and at the perfect time.
God was speaking right to me through your devotional today! Thank you for your insight and willingness to share your own experiences. I have felt so overwhelmed lately that I am physically exhausted. I was just telling my husband this morning that I am so tired. It is the worry that is draining me. Thank you for letting God use you in this devotional. I have gained a lot of peace just by listening to your experiences, the verses you quoted, and the pointers you gave to let go of worry.
There are so many times that I let fear and worry take over my day, thank you for your insight, for your daily devotions I needed to be reminded daily of where to take my worries, I wish I could say it is easy to let Go and let God. My faith journey needs a lot of work, thank you for being a daily reminder
I don’t know what to do with myself when I DON’T have a pressing deadline. I act as if worry was active problem solving, but I know that it is not. Worry is only an illusion of activity. Worry is lack of confidence that God can or will intervene or help me.
I read that when you rehearse something in your brain, the neurological chemical response is exactly the same as when the event happens. That explains a lot actually; no wonder stress eats away at our health.
This is a chapter I’ll need to read and mark up several times. One thing that is an immediate take away is the writing down and laying it at the cross. I think my mind needs that object lesson to let go. Thank you.
Renee
Thank you for the reminder to trust God when you feel worn out. I get this overwhelming feeling some days.
I currently take care of my 94 year old mother who is total care and was looking forward to a little vacation but that is not to be. Financially I cannot do it and am now forced to find at least a part time job because my husband does not make enough on his own to cover expenses. I feel so guilty at the thought of leaving my mother to work but it has to be. Haven’t found any type of work and I keep thinking that God doesn’t want me to work, that I should be here with my mother. Thank you for the works of encouragement and reminder that with God all things are possible.
I listened to your video and I know that I sometimes forget that God is there for me and he is holding my hand. I have worried way to much about a job and how I am going to pay bills. But recently I have given my worry to him. I read my Bible everyday. I spend every morning with God. I know that he speaks to me and guides me and since I have given my worries to him I feel that I can breath again. In the last couple of weeks I have been happy and content and I know that he has my back. I have read your book and I just love it. I know I have a Confident Heart. Thank you for your inspiration.
Renee thank you for allowing God to use you. Your words are a reminder to me that God is there. I need to slow down and focus on what he is trying to say to me.
Hello Renee
Your book has changed the way I look at myself and the way I look at God in my life! Chapter 9 is one of those chapters that I read over and over again, because like you I’ve done ‘crazy’ things, like wearing different type of socks to work, leaving home without shoes on, etc… because I’m worried about everything..my problems, the World problems and everything in between! Good gave you a wonderful gift and I’m so glad you have decided to share it with us… You are changing many lives with your books, materials and devotions! Thanks so much for showing us a God that loves us not matter what and a God that give us rest in the middle of our crazy lives.
God Bless!
Thank you so much for this video. I really needed to hear this today as I sit amongst the piles on my desk and surrounded by overwhelming to-do-lists. I am so weary from worry all the time and need to take the time to stop and let Jesus take some of the load. I love your bedside cross and idea of leaving your worries for Him!
Thank you so much for sharing practical advice from God’s word. Advice that we can put into action!!!
This devotion just hit me over the head – because I too have believe God has been telling me it’s not my schedule – work, church, writing – that’s overhwhelming me – it’s the never ending chatter in my mind that’s overwhelming and exhausting. I spend more time worrying how I’m going to get everything done – than just trusting that God is right here with me helping me to do it.
I spend more time worrying about whether this or that is going to happen (it really got worse after my son’s murder in 2005) than I do trusting that God has never failed me nor forsaken me.
So thank you for confirmation of what God is trying to get me to see – it’s me oh Lord standing in the need of prayer, repair and love from the Master.
Thank you so much for this! I have allowed worry to overtake me. When in my heart I know that God has always taken care of me! He has never failed and he loves me!
Praise the Lord for allowing His thoughts to enter in and for your obedience to share them. They were just the words from the Lord that I needed to hear at this very moment this morning.
God is calling…me up out of a bed that I didn’t want to leave, up out of the doubt and worry that plagues me, up out of the dark thoughts that I have allowed to invade and consume me, up to trust that He already knows my struggles and has them under control, up to simply obey and trust Him.
Pray I will do just that!
Thank you so!
Philippians 4:4-7 has long been a passage I read at least once a week, as worry often seems to consume my life. I want to add 1 Peter 5:7 to my “go to” verse! Also, I plan to share this devotion with a friend, who has been experiencing a lot of stress in her life lately. I know it will encourage her as it did me. Last, I love the idea of physically “handing my worries over” to Christ at the end of the day.
Thank you for your thoughts today!
Nancy
I know worrying is wrong but since God doesn’t seem to answer any of our personal prayers, I think worrying will help. It obviously doesn’t but what else is there to do? I have finally decided to just do what needs to be done and see what happens. Stop worrying? That will take a lot of training and I almost feel to weary to do it. Great devotion, thanks!
Renee,
Worry is my middle name. I also find myself worrying all the time. I am a mother of two Middle schoolers and I am married. Several years ago my husband was unfaithful and every day I try to put it out of my mind and make our marriage work. I love my husband and don’t want my children to grow up without both of us. I pray daily that God will help me forgive and and just when I think I am over that hill, Satan jumps in and fills my head full of doubts, resentment, anger and worry. Worry that if I was giving everything I had before and it wasn’t enough to keep my husband from straying, then how is what I am giving now enough. I Worry that if he tells me that it is over I will just break. I talk to God throughout the day but I can’t seem to leave my cares there with Him. I always pick them back up and carry them with me. I want to be able to be confident again and I know that casting my cares on Jesus is the only way. Everyone makes it seem so easy but it is so difficult for me. Thank you for your devotion.
Thanks for the reminder to let God lead me to the issue instead of me leading myself. With two kids in college, 2 jobs, the bills, the house, etc., etc., there’s plenty to stress over and be anxious about. But, your kind words bring the focus back where it needs to be. On our Lord!! Praise Him!!!
Renee,
Thank you so much for your practical insights and encouragement today. I was just reviewing Chap. 8 of your book today during devotional time and was so blessed. “Why worry when you can pray” was a little song I learned as a child. God is so much bigger than our worries and He really does give peace when we bring our concerns to Him. Your message today was just what so many of us needed to hear. Thanks!!!
I have so enjoyed reading your devotionals since I signed up for the P31 emails. It’s so easy to get caught up in worry about things, and to depend too much on myself and not enough on God for strength. Thanks for the reminder that He wants me to always cast my cares on Him, not just when I feel like they’re too big for me to handle. 🙂
Thank you so much for your Godly wisdom. It’s always so timely. Often I’m serving rather than seeking. I tell God what He should do, and if He doesn’t listen I take control. He calls me to rest in Him, to stop worrying and start praying and to keep thanking Him. He calls me to cast my cares on Him. Godly peace is what refreshes.