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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It’s nice how the Lord works through whatever media needed to get us the messages we need. I so needed the P31 today. Thank you for your insight.
Thanks for today’s devotion! It was a good wake up call to drop the worry and focus on the Word. My biggest worries are those that are in the future and typically things I have no control over anyway. I need to turn those over to God and totally trust in His plan for me.
Each day has enough trouble of its own, right?? Lord, help me to focus on You alone and trust in Your promises!
Loved your post today on P31. It really hit home. I, too, often spend as much time fretting over deadlines and things to do as I spend doing the work. Stress has been plaguing me, mostly from a very difficult aging parent, and the lack of time to handle my husband, teenager, parent, household, bills, etc. I’ve gotten so used to the stress, sometimes I don’t even realize that I AM stressed.
Renee, thank you so much for what you do. I worry too much about such trivial things. I really enjoyed your video and liked the idea of writing the worries on a card and giving them to God. Thanks again you are such a blessing. Love in Christ, Rita
I’m so blessed by this devotional. Thank you so much
Thank you so much for your encouraging words! Your invitation to chat over a cup of coffee made me realize how alone i feel. My husband is a pastor, so I am always the one doing the inviting – not being invited. I also work full-time for a very demanding company and have 3 children still at home (our oldest just graduated from college and moved to Pheonix). My husband has an auto immune disorder that causes me to have to pick up more slack at home and church. I have also let worry weave it’s way into my heart and your words were just what i needed this morning. Thank you…..
I am so glad to receive this email today. I am going through so much worry and stress with my job and my marriage and some days just don’t know where to turn. I am going to do like you said and write down my concerns, my to do list and see where God takes me. Thank you so much for sharing this today, it was just what I needed. God bless you
Renee, thank you so much for this devotional today and this reminder! When I read your book with Melissa last year, the chapter where you talk about worry REALLY spoke to me — I truly did not recognize how much my “planning and research and organizing” were actually forms of worry in disguise. And they consumed SO MUCH of my BRAIN activity and TIME! When this truth shined into my life, I began to recognize how much of my energy I was losing by allowing my brain to just run amuk, and God began to whisper to my heart to take my “thoughts captive” and turn myself back towards Him for direction…to let go of the things that steal my energy from Him. 🙂 I believe there is so much freedom and refreshment to be found in the Lord when we let go of these things and rest in Him, but until we even recognize that we are being bound and captive by our own ways, it’s hard to change. I am grateful for your message, and I pray that women everywhere receive it and internalize it — God has VERY different ideas about how we should be communing with him all the time, and this is the first step towards getting there. Renee, I am a “work in progress” and still battling “busy-ness” all the time, but I am recovering! 🙂 Thank you!
I loved the suggestion of writing down our concerns and worries on index cards and laying them on a cross to give to Jesus. I will start implementing this today!! Thank you so much for this!!
What a great reminder to cast our cares on the Lord~He WILL sustain us. He does not intend for us to do life on our own. I love the 3 tips you shared because they encourage our thinking to be where it should be. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing. Worry can become such a part of our lives and we do not even know it is there. God gives us a sound mind and no room there for worry.
Your message today was truely a God thing. I have been feeling so overwhelmed at work and wondering if I was miserable because he has another plan for my life. This may not be where I belong. I really liked my job until they started adding more tasks to my job. I can’t get my “real” work done for all the interruptions. I admit I have not been in the Word and in pray like I should be. That may REALLY be the cause of my miseralbe mood. I have a tendency to pray about things, lay them at the feett of Jesus then pick them back up again and continue to worry, thinking I can fix them myself. Thank you for letting me vent.
Blessings to all,
Karen
I just cried out to the Lord this morning. There are so many things that I hold on to, and I am coming to realize that they are worry and concerns that I do not need to hold on to. My life has been turned upside down and now going down a path I never dreamed I would be on, but I know that my Lord is in faithful and I need to relinquish my control and surrender to His! All this worry makes me weary. I never looked at it that way. Thank you for your devotional. God has truly used it for me.
Thank you for such an uplifting message. The one thing I am going to do after reading your message is to thank God for what he has done. I am always busy praying and thanking God, but not sure I really thank him for what he has already done, and for what he is currently doing!
Worry is my biggest stumbling block so much so that I developed Anxiety Disorder and mild Agoraphobia (afraid to leave the house.) I fear the unknown which causes me to worry about what I’ll encounter so I just freeze and stay home. However, lately a friend from church has invited me shopping and has come up to my house so I didn’t have to go anywhere and she is also understanding if I cancel on her because of my anxiety.
I have found that if I write down what I am worried about and why, I can put things into perspective and find strength in the Bible showing others who also worried and overcame their fears and doubts.
It seems that once I get out and do things I realize that my fears were unwarranted and actually have fun but the longer I stay in the harder it is to go out.
I guess there’s an analogy here in that the more we resist Jesus, the harder our hearts get. But when we let him in, he shows us that his yoke is light and our worry is the only thing holding us down.
Thank you and God bless you for addressing a very common and unhealthy problem and giving us the tools to overcome it.
Another thing that I do ‘almost’ every day is to put on my armor of God which is in Ephesians 6:10-18. It is a true weapon that we have at our disposal against Satan. So why don’t we use whatever we can get?
Lori, I can so relate to your post! I have had anxiety disorder since I was a child, and at times it goes into panic disorder and mild agoraphobia. After my dad’s death over seven years ago, I became depressed. I think all along I may have had the depression, but it just hadn’t become bad. I used to go to therapy, but have now gotten well enough thanks to great doctors from our Lord Jesus that I no longer need the therapy, but I do still take medication.
I can absolutely identify with the “fear of the unknown”. It used to rob me of vacations, and so many other joys that were right outside my door. However there was one therapist, a really bad therapist, that made me fighting mad. He would ask what I would do for this or that in my anxiety, and I would talk about trying to give my fears to Jesus, or talk about Jesus in relation to my anxiety. Well for some reason that got his dander up. He told me, “Jesus isn’t here right now though, so let’s put Him aside!”. I told him Jesus is always with me, He is my life, I can’t “put Him aside”, and I don’t want to put Him aside. Lol, needless to say that was my last day with that therapist! But it made me realize the passion behind what I had said to the therapist. I thought about how much I believed in what I had said that day, so I decided to try and put some action where my words had been!
You know those awful anxious feelings you get, in your stomach, when you sweat, and your face feels hot, when you feel like you will be sick, or lose it all together? Everytime before when I had gotten those feelings I let them take me over. But since I had decided to try something new, I allowed myself to feel the feelings, and I told myself, “God created this feeling in me, and it’s nothing to be afraid of, He has only good plans for me, so I trust Him, and I would say, “God I am giving these feelings to you”, then I would breathe my feelings out, as if sending them to Him. I can’t say that has healed me, but wow! I felt so much better, and slowly those feelings had less control over me. I was able to do things I hadn’t done before, and while I can’t do all I want still, I have full confidence that Christ will allow me to one day if it is in His will for me 🙂
I hope you too will be able to go out of your home more and more, know those feeling come from Christ, and He is in control. You are not out of control, He is just in control. Little by little each day try and go a bit further than you used to, that’s what I did it is really working! I would have never thought I could go on a vacation, but I have, and am again this summer! So I went from not wanting to leave my house too much, to not wanting to leave my city, to not wanting to leave my state, and now I can leave my state! I hope one day to be able to do air travel again, and go out of the country! So if it can happen for me my sister in Christ, I know it can for you too! I will be praying for you! Don’t give up! You are doing great with those outings with your friend, and what a blessing to have a friend who understands. (((HUGS)))
A peace that passes all understanding….keep your heart and mind on Jesus Christ. So true!
I think your statement that life IS going to get overwhelming at times is a reminder to me that it’s OK when life IS overwhelming. It’s what we DO when it gets overwhelming that makes the difference. Keeping my eyes on HIM!
Thank you for sharing God’s word!
Yesterday I experienced a panic attack while beginning the planning for homeschool in the fall. I had to quit planning because of the overwhelming weariness. Your topic today spoke to me in that I don’t need to give up, I need to involve God in the planning.
Thank you SO much for your devotional today….it was just what I needed. I’m a homeschool mom looking ahead to the senior year of my son & all that we need to accomplish to get him ready for college next fall (GED, SATS, college application, etc, etc.) & I feel so overwhelmed. Never mind that I’ve already done this twice before with two older kids……I guess some things never change. 😉 I find myself stressing & thinking about how we need to be doing ‘summer school’ & sometimes I just want to run away & cry. But I KNOW I should thank God for his past blessings (which are obvious in my two older kids) & just cast my cares on Him & do what HE wants me to do one day at a time. God IS faithful!!
Thank you for this mornings devotional. It is exactly what I needed. I know that there are people that are much worse off than me but I get so consumed in my own problems. In the past few years I have been through a divorce, foreclosure of my home, health problems with my parents, lost my church family because my ex continuted to go there and now only goes every other weekend when he has the kids, and I’m raising 2 teenage boys. I now have a fiance who loves me like a newborn baby…..honestly he does. Please pray for me that I will turn my worries over to God. I don’t want my worrying to ruin my relationship. My soon to be step-daughter told me the other day that I was scaring her to be an adult.
That REALLY caught my attention. I am 41 years old now and starting completely over with my life. Sometimes I think, will I ever have anything again? Will I ever feel as comfortable in another church as I did my own? And you have to make it your own. I had that and I miss it.
Thanks again and please pray for me and my family and my new marriage.
thanks for the three ideas/steps… simple and to the point….now on a post-it note on my desk at work
Thank for reminding me of God’s promises. I daily, remind myself to surrender to God. Thank you for the practical steps for letting go and letting God.
Thank you for your timely devotion and your three ways to overcome worry. I especially like your suggestion to write your worries down and give them to God! Prayer and thanking God for the many blessings he has given me and my family has kept me going the past few months.
May God continue to bless your ministry!
Renee,
I feel like I have found a kindred spirit in you in so many ways with this devotional. I have been having trouble putting a finger in what I have been going through lately. My situtation is similar to yours as I have felt I have too many commitments, deadlines, etc. This devotion has helped me identify my problem: worry!
Including being obsessed over a very short haircut after 3 years of longer hair!
I know it sounds silly but I have allowed the not so important thingsto muddle my thinking. I am so glad I read your devotion today. I pray God to forgive me of my worry and to trust him to give me the rest I need and the direction to manage my commitments.
Thanks and best regards.
Bing (Ernema)
As I was reading this message today I made me realize for the first time that a decision that my husband and I made back in February, to release worries and give it all to God, has taken so much weight ( literally) off of me! I was working 2 jobs, raising 3 kids ( one of which graduated high school a few weeks ago), being at home to take care of everyone while my husband’s job takes him out of state. I was physically and mentally exhausted, but just knew that if I was to let one of these jobs go that my stress level would only get worse. We prayed about it again and again and God kept revealing to me the healing he gave my body after cancer and that all of this stress was not good for me. I quit one of those jobs in February and gave it all to God, He has provided, as always, and I just realized after reading today’s devotion how very much His promise of peace and guidance if we trusted in Him has been a reality! Thank you for reminding of God’s wonderful promise of everything if we TRUST in Him and let go!
Girl, you hit me today, I just told my daughter I had to find a way to release my stress. Would love to get your book. Thanks for following God’s leadership in your P31.
Thanks for the devotion today. It was exactly what I needed. We’re trying to sell our house and getting ready for vacation – on top of all the normal everyday stress, and I didn’t even realize how much I was allowing it to weigh me down. I’m asking God to help me to put it in His hands.
This post is so right on time for me. I have 4 little girls (my oldest is 8) and I work a 40 hr work week outside of the home. Right now, my drive to work everyday is consumed my prayer that God will somehow rescue me from what has become an overwhelming job. I feel that I have more on my plate than any 5 people could accomplish. Your post has made me realize that maybe part of my problem is the amount of time I spend lamenting over all I have to do instead of actually doing what I need to do.
Thank you for seeking & serving God with faithfulness. It is so clear that he uses Proverbs 31 ministries to speak to my heat & street me to seeking him more in my life.
I have been so weary lately that all I have wanted to lay on the couch and do absolutely nothing. I can’t seem to function. I have gotten to the point now of being physically sick because of it and I have to remember to call out to God instead of worrying about what is going on. When i was reading your post you said you think so much about what is going on. I do the same thing. I think so much I just can’t sleep, I can’t get things out of my head. I try to make things better, try to think of how I could change things but I have to remember God will help me through it. I can’t rely on myself to get through it. Thank you so much for the post. Means alot.
Deanna
I have struggled with worry all my life! Over the years God has taught me more about laying it at the feet of Jesus but I still backslide into this problem at times. Thanks for your words to remind us how much he cares for us and how we can handle the worry we cannot! I love the idea of “pressing into” our God. I had never heard this phrase but in the last two weeks I have heard it twice. It has really gotten my attention!
Thank you so much for those words of encouragement. It is so hard to remember to do those things you spoke about in the midst of all the rush and worry of everyday life. I have a hard time trusting God 100% because of so many abusive things that have happen to me in my life but I am learning from you and the book that He can be trusted a 100%. Writing things down will be helpful for me, that is a wonderful idea. Thanks for all that you do and wisdom and discernment. You are amazing. Thanks again. Kim
Thank you so much for this posting. As others have said, it’s exactly what I needed today. It’s comforting to know that other Christian women are struggling with this also. I have always felt that I was the only one (struggling) and somehow less of a Christian for all my worrying.
I am consumed by worry. I am a single mom. I have health issues (caused mainly by stress and worry) and I am stuck in a cycle of horrible, unhelpful thinking. I am allowing myself to be consumed by worry. I worry about my daughter and her situation at her dad’s house, I worry that my own home-based business is not enough-its not, and I am agonizing over going back to work, what job, what hours etc, I worry how the mortgage, bills, and groceries will be paid for and how I can get myself turned around to focus on Jesus. I’ve been a Christian for 3+ years and now, not at first, now after 3 years I’m in this season where I have low faith and constant worry. I’m thankful to God for Godly women who are not giving up on me and are helping me. I’m struggling with making the decision every moment of the day to trust God-I’m being downright stubborn. Its really hard in the cloud of depression. Thank you for your daily devotional and especially this one today. I feel like I’m getting closer to getting my mind right but I still have so far to go. I’d really like to get your book on worry, Renee. Thanks again for your ministry!
This is so good! My family and I are going thru something awful right now and the worrying thoughts can become overwhelming. You’ve helped me to refocus on trusting God and exercising my faith. Thank you!
Renee,
thanks for sharing this this morning. I don’t know how much time I waste thinking about all the things on my to do list and trying to figure out how I am going to juggle all of it. I am really trying to get better at planning my days, and then focusing on one task at a time, and not allowing myself to let the other stuff creep in. I knew it was a time waster, but never really thought of it as worry, but I guess it is.
When I read your paragraph where you described the workings of our mind, it reminded me of a blogpost I wrote recently. It is not on worry, but thought it might give you a laugh today. Thanks for all you do to minister to others! http://springingup.net/mind-commotion/
Kate
You have struck a chord in my life today, I have been feeling as if I just had to much to do and not enough time to do it. I have become a perfectionist as I grow older, (OCD) is more like it. I want to be sure all is done absolutely the best and I know God wants us to do the best in all we do and say. I struggle with saying no but lately I wonder if I am saying no to the wrong things. Thank you so much for following God.
Yes! It is very hard sometimes to “turn off’ my brain! There are times I just have to sit quietly, open His words and let that wonderful peace that passes all understanding rule over my heart and mind. It works everytime….
As someone who has suffered severe depression in my life, I have [almost…but not QUITE there] learned that worry is a waste of time. I’ve learned to keep my schedule LIGHT and not overcommit myself.l I’ve learned to access my life and not make rash committments. Even learned how to say “NO” to people who want to invade my space with cumbersome tasks. And even if I do commit, if I realize that I’m slipping, I’m not afraid to tell a person that I spoke too presumptuously and will not be able to fulfill the committment or task, I don’t feel guilty at all! Worry causes stress & both are killing our world and it’s a distraction from Satan. Fellow Christians we have to realize that! It causes one’s mind to deviate from GOD and HIS presence & peace. Remember Martha, Mary & Jesus!! My mother had told me several times before she died.’the life you save will be your own’ Please be mindful that if you are sick and/or hospitalized because of stress and worry, you are no good to yourself or others. Also, remember to do things to energize and reinvigorate the mind by having some ‘ME’ at least a few times throughout the week. You need & deserve it!
I have been living today’s devotion. Worrying about things is not the answer. If you are right with God, he will make them right for you. I have just been praying about a job that I feel God has called me to do. He has answered my prayers. The job is overwhelming at this time, but I believe I am here for a reason. I am right with God so I know he too will make this right for me. Thank you for all you do.
After my daughter’s ski accident in March, seems all I do is worry about her recovery, whether I could have prevented the accident, if she will ever regain full use of her hands, and if she will ever be able to play volleyball again-she was being pursued by several colleges already at the age of 14. I read so many of your devotions and find strength and encouragement. It’s like you have written them just for me! Thanks for your ministry!
Thank you. God is using you to help so many. I have been weary with worry for my daughter her some time. I keep reminding myself that her situation is not something I can change to control….but the next hour I’m letting my mind whirl in all sorts of directions. My husband even said last night ‘you think these things all the time? No wonder your driving yourself crazy.’. And he’s right I do drive myself crazy with thoughts and worry.
Dear heavenly father take this worry from me and hold my daughter close to you for you are the only one that can change and heal situations. I praise your heavenly name!
Reading your post felt like reading a something out of my own life. It was like a light bulb went off in my head and I realized it wasn’t my crazy life I needed to change, but how I handle it. I have 3 kids ranging for 1-8, own my own business from home and I am going back to college this summer, oh yeah and I sell wreaths on Etsy as well. 😉 Some days I feel like my list is never-ending and I am SO weary. At that time, I need to turn to him and find peace. Thank you for your words and for opening up what was right in front of my face, yet somehow I missed.
Renee, I am a chronic worrier. Two things you mentioned really hit me. First, I am guilty of letting others expectations of me have more influence than praying for God’s guidance in directing my commitments. Also you mentioned serving vs seeking. In my mind if I just stayed busy trying to make sure all the things are getting done then I wouldn’t worry as much. What a trap! All that “doing” left no time or energy for seeking God, his guidance, shelter, or peace. Your tips are so helpful. Prayerfulness and thanksgiving! I will set my heart on these things not the expectations of others. God’s reward way better than anything this world has to offer.
Since March I have found myself having to remind myself multiple times a day that God is on control, that He loves me and cares for all our needs. Using your idea of placing my worries on a card and giving them to Pur Father while thanking him for all He has done and is doing will give me a physical was to remind myself: I know the plans I have for you, plan to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans for hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Thank you
Thank you for the encouraging devotion today!
I needed to hear just that! I juggle a busy schedule with 3 great kids, but
the busy part is usually in my head more than
on the calendar (and the calendar is full enough)!
Thank you for your obedience to Christ to write such
a great devotion for people who need it like me!
Now, if I only had a stress relief pack to go with it……lol
Wow! I really needed to hear this message! Thank you for your practical advice. I gave always struggled with giving my burdens to God, but I love this idea of writing them down & placing them at the foot of the cross… I’ll definitely be doing that! Have a blessed day!
Thank you! This could not have came at a more perfect time!
Good morning!
To be set free from worry and fear is the greatest gift from God…it allows us to be free to live, love and serve Him and be led by His Spirit!
For many years until just recently, my worries and fears consumed me. My heart actually hurt and it felt as though an elephant was sitting on my chest…then a sermon by a very young pastor went deep into my heart when he said that worry is a sin….it means I are not trusting God…something clicked inside my brain. I had been praying for God to deliver me from this fear and worry for years! His answer came and the words “Trust Me!” kept running through my head…
Day by day, when the worries start to return or I feel overwhelmed by something that is going on in my life, I say out loud, “I trust YOU!”…..and I feel this peace come over me.
Thank you, Renee for being real and sharing your faith walk with all of us!