Do you spend a lot of your time worrying about things you can't control? Do you want to stop? Read on!
By Dexter H. Faulkner
In Guatemala there is a legend about dolls that can solve your problems.
The idea is that you tell the dolls your troubles each night before you go to sleep. While you're asleep the dolls solve your problems for you.
Wouldn't that be great! Just hand your troubles over to a doll and let it take care of everything. It would be a stress-free existence.
Unfortunately, of course, it doesn't work.
What does worrying do?
Facing a fate worse than death? Don't despair. You can learn to stop worrying.
Think of all the problems that worrying has solved for you. It's probably a small list. Worry does little more than cause you to lose sleep at night. (It can even cause health problems, such as headaches and ulcers.)
Losing sleep over a problem or event that you dread only makes you tired and cranky in the morning. Worry doesn't accomplish anything productive.
Many chronic worriers confuse worry with action. But there is no correlation between the two.
For some, worrying is a part of everdyday life. For example, when you get called into your principal's or boss' office, do you think you're going to be chewed out or fired? We live in a stressful age and it is easy to imagine the worst and fret over the unexpected.
But worrying about problems or things that could possibly go wrong is a bad habit. Like any bad habit, there are things that you can do to break it. You can stop worrying, and here's how to start:
The first step to overcoming the habit of worrying is to determine that you want to do something about it. This decision takes place in your mind and starts with a positive attitude.
Having a positive attitude not only makes you feel better, it helps relieve stress. A positive attitude also helps you solve problems better.
Positive feelings give you access to a wider range of information and ideas; negative emotions tend to narrow your focus. A positive attitude helps you realize your seemingly unsolvable problem may not really be as bad as it seemed.
When the principal, coach or boss calls you into the office, don't say to yourself, "I'm gonna get it." Instead, think of all the positive things that could happen, such as being moved to a better position on the team or getting a raise. Instead of worrying about everything that could go wrong, stop and think of all the things that could possibly go right.
And map out solutions or ways to avoid things you think could go wrong. Planning how to overcome problems is not the same thing as worrying. Planning is taking action -- worrying is doing nothing.
Better than a doll
We have access to someone who is much more qualified to handle our problems than the dolls we were talking about. God asks us not to worry or fret. He even wants our problems. He only asks that we trust him to handle them according to his will.
King David wrote many, many years ago: "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him.... [Then] He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday" (Psalm 37:5, New King James Version throughout).
Give your problems to God. Put them in his hands. Let God look after you completely. That is what David is saying to us.
I once read that right in the middle of the African jungle, plagued by the poisonous snakes and insects, gnawed by hunger, harassed by wild beasts and sickened by the slave trade - even dying on his feet - David Livingstone repeated that verse five times a day. In that passage he found strength to go on, knowing that God would keep his promise.
King David believed that promise throughout his life. He said: "For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth" (Psalm 71:5). This reminds us that we are all poor and needy creatures - young or old. Truly, our only hope is in the power of God.
The Great God offers to carry our burdens. We simply need to be obeying his laws and ask for his help. It isn't always easy to leave your problems in the hands of someone else, but that is what we are instructed in the Bible to do.
God is willing to take on our problems and handle them if we go to him in prayer and ask him to. And then we have to stop worrying about them and let him take care of things in his own time and way - which is the right time and the right way.
The answer or solution to your problem may not come in the way you expect, or even want. It will be in your best interest, though, and it will work out the best in the long run.
So, work on a more positive attitude. Give your worries to God, because that's what he wants. And he promises to help!
Taken from Youth 90 magazine
