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!!
For More Ways to Live Worry-free
Receive daily promises and more encouragement by joining
my Confident Heart Facebook community.
Receive my posts (like today’s) in your inbox!
Just sign up in my sidebar where it says: Receive Email Updates.
Discover more from Renee Swope
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.


Thanks for the update! Especially living overseas, it’s so easy to get consumed by worry and distracted by the least important things. A good reminder to focus on Jesus!
Renee,
I just want to thank you for your obedience. This wonderful gift that God has given you has been a tremendous help to me in so many areas of my life. I thought I knew what deliverance was until I actually experienced. I’ve always loved to read and write (journal), but I’ve never been much of a blogger, but now it is so liberating to be able to communicate with women who are not afraid to share what they have been experiencing. It reminds me how true God’s Word is and how much He loves us. I can’t thank you enough.
Many Blessings~ Lakeeia
Worry is such a part of who we are as women that we don’t even notice we do it annit does absolutely nothing except perpetuate more anxiety and rob us of valuable time and energy. I love the stop-start and the concern card-I am putting one next to my bed today! 🙂
The line “I was serving God more than I was seeking God” is my worry-causing blunder right now. Thank you for the reminder to go to Him for the strength I need to complete the tasks He gives me.
Thank you for this! I’ve become more and more weary lately – so much so that it’s affecting my health… I finally realized that what I thought was just “thinking” about things was really “worrying” about them. They were consuming my thoughts and energy and left me with very little to give toward God and others. I’m a list maker and I love your suggestion about writing my worries down and physically/literally ‘giving’ them to God. I pray all the time but I think this might make it more ‘real’ for me. You know, one more thing checked off my list and out of my head… 🙂
Thank you for this amazing ministry!! It has come at the exact right time in my life… God’s time.
God bless!
Being a perfectionist I put a lit of unnecessary worry on my plate. Thanks for the gentle reminder that I need not carry the burden by myself and to look to the One who is perfect to let me go of my own chains. Reading the comments help me know I’m not alone in this struggle.
I love this video message. Worry is one of my biggest energy drainers. It is a habit that is like all other habits, in that you start to do it automatically and before you know it. You become weary and hopeless – at least that is what it does for me when I indulge in it. I love the idea of writing worries down and putting them in a bowl to give to God. This is something I will try! Thanks again for another great message!
-Pam
Renee and dear sisters,
I didnt think I was worrying. I thought I was concerned! What a trick to think that way. I thank you Renae for helping me see areas in my life that I have disguised as not so big of a deal when really they are just that. I now find myself just thanking God for all that I have but most importantly for who He is. That keeps me focused. I realized from listening to your video that I havent had my alone times as much as I used to. I was running from God trying to do instead of being in His presence. Thank you Renee for reminding me that all that I have and all that I am is because of Him and my time alone with Him is the most important thing in my life. The funny thing is I know this and things go well and I strike out on my own just doing a little devotion here and there (like I can do all things well without Him first. Not so!) when God wants my full attention. My daughter makes me look at her when I am trying to do two or three things at once. She says look at me when I am talking to you. She is 15 and requires my full attention when we are talking. So does God. I am realizing that throught his book things that I have pushed back or pushed away are the very things that God wants me to give to Him and our relationship just cant be sometimey. Thanks again Renee for shining His light of wisdom on the secret or hidden places that we miss although they are right in front of us. August Rose
I waste so much energy worrying so I was
glad to read your devotional today. Thanks!
Thank you for this chapter on Martha and the listing heart vs the listening heart.
Devotion time is our lifeline and if you’re able to put a table with your Jesus chair.
Enjoy “Tea Time for two, Jesus and You”
Put a scripture on the tea bag tag, you’ll be amazed how rewarding and refreshing.
My journal was a birthday gift from a dear friend, she labeled it “My Blessings Book”
Oh how right she is, it has ministered to me so many times.
May I add 1 scripture to your list in chpt 9 you already have Ps 138 but add vs 8
Oh the promise and comfort!
Many blessings to you
Thanks for the remind to not worry! It is wearing!
This chapter was for me!!! The devotion time with the Lord is so special, it is our lifeline. When I was in North Carolina a friend gave me a journal for my birthday and titled it “Blessings Book” oh what a blessing and encouragement to refer back to some very special times, He is always there.
You spoke of your devotion chair, we had a “Tea Time with Jesus” tea bags with scripture and tea with our devotions, it’s great tea for two, Jesus and you
May I add one more scripture to you list in chpt 9, Ps 138 add vs 8 it holds such a beautiful promise
I appreciated the note on the listening heart vs the listing heart.
Martha and I have similarities, I need to learn and grow out of.
By His Grace I will!
Thanks Renee, as usual God knows what I need to read, see or hear at just the right time in my life. This is just what I needed to hear! I wake up in the middle of the night and start worrying with increased anxiety about my childs safety and where they are or what they are doing. I have recently found that if sing this song in my head over and over again, it calms me and redirects my thought to His Stength and power. The song is Thy Name “Father, I love you. I worship and adore you. Glorify thy name in all the earth, Glorify thy name, Glorify thy name in all the earth. Jesus, I love you. I worship and adore you. Glorify thy name in all the earth, Glorify thy name, Glorify thy name in all the earth. Spirit, I love you. I worship and adore you. Glorify thy name in all the earth, Glorify thy name, Glorify thy name in all the earth.” I sometimes feel so overwhelmed that I don’t seem to know what or how to pray. Your reminder will be helpful too. Stop worrying….Start praying…..Keep thanking God! Love it!!
Oh my word….476 comments? I was off line yesterday due to modem madness. I thought I could catch up on comments from my bible study buddies today. There sure are a lot of us worrying out there. Renee, did you know how many women need your bible study? I sure am thankful to be in this study. I know how much has changed for me in the last nine weeks. Just an example: I woke up last Fri with a swollen,painful knee. God was good enough to get me an appointment with a much sought after knee specialist. He gave me a script for a heavy duty antibiotic and told me to come back in 3 days, if the knee wasn’t better he might need to open it up. I went home and followed all his direc tions including staying off my feet until I saw him again. Thanks to my wonderful husband, I kept my leg elevated and let him handle everything. I wasn’t worried. My husband drove me to the office, the doc took one look at my knee and said “That knee is infected and it’s not going to clear up on its own.” If there was ever a time I would worry it was now. Instead we went to the hospital, I had the knee surgery and we were home in time to watch Leno. I knew God would would take care of everything. There was nothing to worry about and in another week the stitches will be taken out. Thank you Renee for so many new tools that make life easier.
I have read this chapter twice already. I think I’ll read it one more time. It is so helpful and relevant to where I am right now! Thanks so much for sharing your heart. Every week has been exactly what I’ve needed.
This devotional was just what I needed on a night when I “had” to get the lawn mowed before dark, “need” to call the mechanic about the light that just went on in my car all while just being a single mom. I MUST stop worrying and start praying more! I love the cross on the nightstand idea… such a concrete way to remember to cast my worries onto Jesus.
Hi Renee,
When I started reading this chapter it sounded so much like me. I work fulltime an hour from home and we are raising three granddaughters, 11, 9 and 4. I have really been overwhelmed at times. IThere have been times when I said I can’t do this. My middle granddaughter was having some major issues. She has been diagnosed with ADHD and a mood disorder. She is doing much better, but still have behaviour issues. I have really had to go to God in prayer for guidance and seeking His peace. They have been with us for 5 years now. My daughter and her husband have moved close and are getting there lives together. They have turned there lives over to God and He is working in their lives. The girls are spending the summer with them and I feel like this is the rest I needed to refresh and renew my realtionship with God. It has also been time of renewal for our marriage. I see the girls 3 or 4 times a week. My daughter lives 5 minutes away. They will be back when school starts. I worry that I will still have moments when I snap at them or I am not making the diffrence in there lives I need to. Through this study I am learning when those thoughts of ” you will fail or mess up” to remember I am a child of God and he will always love me and never leave me. I am going to use my cross and try to write and make a list of my worries and put them there for the Lord to handle. Stop worrying….Start praying…..Keep thanking God for alll He has done and continues to do for me!
I sat down at the computer to check my e-mail very discouraged and heavy concerns for my son. I clicked on your p31 devotion and it hit me right in the face about worry, tension, etc. I know these verses, but what a perfect reminder. I will need to cling to these verses and climb into God’s lap. Thanks for ministering to me on June 21st.
Renee- Thank you for this video lesson. Many years ago, I memorized these verses, but I needed this reminder today. Urgh! I hate how worry creeps into my mind. God is good! Thank you for writing this study.
Hi Renee,
In a few weeks I will be conducting a summer Camp for speecial needs youth. It has been overwhelming at
times and yes I worry that everthing can be “perfect” Thanks for the devotion and your prayers in this outreach. The Lord has fully equipped us and blessed us with spiritual gifts.
Thank you for sharing God’s wisdom in such a simple manner. God bless!