Calm My Anxious Heart

Recently I have been reading the book “Calm My Anxious Heart” by Linda Dillow and have been freshly reminded of what it is to be content in the Lord.

It is amazing to me how two different people can have two completely opposite opinions. Most of us categorize our lives in both positive and negative ways. You could write a list of the positive things in your life, and you can then write a list of sobering negatives. Both lists are true, but the focus of each list is the problem. Linda Dillow gives us a great example. She says….

“Two women looked through prison bars
One saw mud, the other saw stars.”

I asked my self the question, which list do I spend the most amount of time dwelling on? Sad, but true I often find myself dwelling on the one with the sobering negatives.

We can focus on the mud or lift our eyes up to the stars. Every one of us occasionally has circumstances that appear to be prison bars and feel that there is no escape. Linda Dillow says, “God wants you and me to be content in our circumstances, not when they improve.” She asks, “How is this possible?”

Philippians 4:6- Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks giving, let your requests be made known to God.

Our part in the process of learning to be content is a heart choice, a choice to pray rather than be anxious. Paul commands us to have nothing to do with anxiety and everything to do with prayer, sadly many of us reverse this and worry about everything, praying as a last resort! Psalm 116:17 helps me to understand what it means to pray with thanksgivings.

“I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.”

Linda Dillow reminds us that “when confronted with negative circumstances, we will have a choice: will we pray about the problem or will we worry about it?” If we make the choice to pray instead of worry, we will personally experience God’s peace, what a promise! In a world of problems, heart ache, and anxiety, all of us need peace.

Matthew 6:34- “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Father I pray that when I’m faced with hard circumstances that I would make you my blessed controller. Please help me to accept your ways, accept your outcome, and let my trust be in you alone. Give me grace not to look down at the mud, but to lift my eyes up to the stars!

~Candace~