How I'm Breaking FREE From Anxiety + Fear

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You don't have to see to the unforeseen when you serve a God that sees it all.

I am not a "paralyzed worrier", I am a "prepared worrier."

I've spent a lot of time planning.

  • Fire plans

  • Husband dying plans

  • Child dying plans

  • Burglar plans

  • Job loss plans

  • Anyone I care about dying plans

Really, for almost every conceivable scenario, even those that are so incredibly remote and unlikely that they are rated at less than 0.01% chance of occurring, I have developed a plan. (Of course I have the stats, right?) 

Are you trapped by a constant imagining of every single thing that could go wrong? Do you manage your anxiety through entertaining every imaginable scenario and mapping "a way out". Anxiety and fear can ruin your every thought and steal joy from pre…

The thing is, I've lived through a tragedy or two. I've been exposed to the unforeseen time and again. And when you've been exposed to the unforeseen, it plants seeds of anxiety about the unforeseeable in you. You begin to strive to "see it all" so that you can “avoid it all”.. or at minimum, not be caught off guard.

Your mind never stops.

Devastating surprises leave you with one resolution: I never want to experience that again. The shock, the panic, the out-of-control-please-God-don’t-let-it-be-true. You decide, subconsciously, that in order to never be shocked like that again, you'll never be caught unaware. If- when- “it” happens, you’ll have seen it coming, you won’t be shocked, and you’ll know just what to do. We believe it will somehow hurt less if we aren’t caught off-guard. And, we believe, if we REALLY prepare well enough, we can stop all the bad stuff from happening in the first place.

So our life is then wrapped around examining, foreseeing, and preventing every imaginable hurt to ourselves and those we love most.
We have an innate desire to protect ourselves from brokenness. 

But the fact of the matter is, that upon reflection of every unforeseen I’ve experienced, the God who sees all, had prepared ahead. He'd placed people, circumstances, and provision in the midst of those events to be sure that in the middle of brokenness, I would not be broken beyond repair. 

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Matthew 6:26-27

Fact: Every shock I've encountered was never a shock I'd planned for. And no tragedy I've planned to face has ever happened. How much joy has been stolen in all of that anxiety and fear? How much have I missed out on, stolen from my family, avoided, or wasted fretting over the multitude of things that HAVE NEVER HAPPENED?

Has my anxiety, terror, and preparation added ONE SINGLE MOMENT to my life? To my loved ones’ lives?

I don't have to have to prepare ahead for every conceivable emergency or disaster. The unforeseen is in plain sight to God. And no matter WHAT happens, He will always be firmly in the midst, fully prepared with his perfect provision. He always has been, and he always will be.

That’s true for me, and it’s true for you.