Anxiety is a huge problem in our world. I never considered surrender as the answer.
Enter Jennie Allen and her amazing book GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD.
I’ve been writing about it for a few weeks now, and I hope you’re not tired of listening to me synthesize the amazing information and encouragement she provided between the covers of that tome.
Would it shock you to learn that 85 percent of things we worry about happening never do? That’s right. We’re afraid the test will come back positive, but it doesn’t. We’re sure we’ll lose our jobs, but we don’t.
There are plenty of things to fear: like that car speeding toward you. But when we treat everything like something to be feared, our brains go into overdrive.
The next time you wonder: “what if.” Stop yourself.
Pray instead. That’s the instruction Paul gives in one of my favorite passages from Philippians chapter four.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Philippians 4:6a NLT
You have a choice. Instead of being anxious and afraid, certain you can’t trust God to take care of this situation: surrender.
Admit that God is in control of every aspect of your life. Even when it doesn’t feel like it, He is still God. He hasn’t forgotten you. He’s not distracted by a viral social media post or the social unrest in Afghanistan or anything else, large or small.
Truth is the powerful weapon we have in this battle against fear.
When fear tries to get a foothold, Allen suggests grabbing a pen and paper and writing down the answers to these four questions:
- Grab the thought. What is it?
- Diagnose the thought. Is it true?
- Take it to God. What does God say about it?
- Make a choice. Am I going to believe God?
In this case, the choice to surrender to the Lord is ultimately choosing to trust him. Trust that he loves us. Trust that he’s on our side. Trust that even in the dark, he sees the road ahead and isn’t going to stumble or drop us.
We are safe with Jesus.
Say it aloud: I am safe with Jesus.
Fear is the enemy’s snare. But the Lord is our shepherd, and he is with us all the time, through every trial.
So really, what is there to be anxious about?
A Pew Perspective 