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| I needed a reminder of the sweet, promising days of June. How about you? |
A group of friends and I are knee deep in a small group Bible study, No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. We meet at Debbie’s house for a couple of hours on Friday mornings and have been having lots of “Aha!” moments.
We have laughed, and shared, and encouraged one another, and cried, and prayed.
It has been great and God is showing us things about ourselves that we need to confront and deal with.
We have learned that an idol can be anything other than God that we set our heart on….that motivates us….that masters and rules us….or that we trust, fear, or serve. They don’t have to be inherently “bad”; they can be good things that keep us from what God desires for us.
I have known for a long time that I was a worrier. My husband says if there is nothing to worry about, I will make up something. I almost had a perverse notion that if I worried enough I might keep something bad from happening.
Doesn’t make much sense when I actually see it in black and white.
I know worry is a sin because I am supposed to trust my Father and his plans for my life and the lives of those whom I love. I even have a whole stack of Bible verses on cards that I am memorizing to use as a sort of non-Catholic rosary. See, I have a problem with this.
Sin, yes.
Idol? I had no idea.
But now I do.
For me, worry has become my default emotion. It has become the elephant in the room. It has become the first thing I turn to. It has become the thing that robs me of a lot of joy in my life. It has become my focus.
Kind of sounds like an idol, don’t you think?
This verse is my new mantra……
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
I am working on letting go of the idea that things are in my control and trying to turn them over to God. He made the universe and knows the stars by name, so I think he can handle it, don’t you?
If there are any other worriers out there, want to join me in letting it go?
(Here is a post I wrote about another Kelly Minter study.)
I am a worrier too. I try to live one day at a time.
I would not have guessed this about you!
I think it is a good idea to have verses on cards as well as to memorize.
What I need to let go of, and I have asked God for help…is not needing attention from friends so much! I get too large of a thrill out of comments on FB, IG and my blog. They make me giggle and sometimes I think about the friends I've made and think and think…then I say WHATTT?! I've been thinking about them more than HIM!
Oh my, I can so relate to the notion that worrying enough might keep something bad from happening.
I know that if I've truly given control to God, I have NOTHING to worry about … so I'm joining you in letting it go.
I am a worrier too, and have felt the same way, if I worried enough that it would keep something from happening? Doesn't work, just gets in the way. Thanks for sharing this, I needed to read these words!!
Sounds like a great bible study!
Oh- That is such an energy sapper, isn't it? I used to be a worrier, too…and see, like me you are even worrying about worrying!;>) Somewhere along the way Ii was able to release it and let it go. I think I finally realized that worrying only made things worse-not better. Good luck- it is a hard thing to let go of –but you CAN do it- xo Diana
Susan, the study sounds so good. I've been thinking about idols recently, too. It really is distressing when it is easy to allow really good things like blogs to take the place that only belongs to the ONE. Arrgh.
Worry….overcoming that and fixing your mind on all those good things in Philippians…such a good thing to put in its place. Phooey…I'm working on that too.
Sorry for rambling…
Blessings…
My bible study did a similar study a few years ago. We had a lot of worriers in our group for some reason
Thankfully I am blessed to not have that problem, don't worry (no pun intended) I have plenty of others to take it's place.
Hope you are having a great weekend
Brett
Oh I can so allow myself to go there, ridden with worry. It actually will make me sick. I know that worry is a sin, when we are supposed to be trusting God. Sometimes I get stuck in my own weakened human state.
I am a worrier. Some of it is driven by my anxiety that has to be treated in emergencies. I can't get off that wheel easily.
The scripture you shared to place your mind on the right things has helped me tremendously in that journey.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power of love and sound mind. I can't tell you the reference, and I might have a few words off, but it's written on my heart. Scripture is a big help, just like you said in your recent post!