Last month was a difficult month for me personally. I had a lot of things on my mind that I didn’t need to focus on. Halfway through the month, while updating my work computer, I accidentally corrupted my external hard drive with all of my writing and video projects for the past five years, and I am no closer to recovering them today.
After it happened, I just sat in my office and cried. The next day I became angry at myself because it was a simple mistake that I could have avoided what should if I hadn’t been in a hurry or up too late working.
Then I got really afraid that I had lost everything I had worked on for over five years, is gone. I was already struggling with the demands of the writing life and deadlines.
To make matters worse, stress and worry have negative effects on my health due to my brain injury:
I know right now a lot of Americans are dealing with hard times, just as we are heading into the holiday season. The holiday rush comes with its own problems, and no one needs anything new to worry about, especially during a time or supposed to be enjoyable.
Many people are about to lose important benefits to help them survive. We are all worrying about something, and that is a waste of time, and we know God is so good (Philippians 4:6-7).
Worry has become a normal part of life, but it wasn’t part of God’s original creation. Mankind lived in a perfect paradise where God provided all of their needs. There was nothing to worry about until mankind wanted more and wanted to be great like God Himself, Who chooses to love relentlessly (Genesis 3:1-5).
After the fall, sin and death entered the world, and man eventually began worrying (Genesis 3:8-10). Worry is a result of our sinful nature; it isn’t part of God’s design for mankind.
Worry is defined as “Mental distress or agitation resulting from concern usually for something impending or anticipated: anxiety.” Yes, worry is a mental health problem we all suffer from.
One of the interesting things about worrying is it is a human problem only. Jesus teaches us that birds, animals, and flowers do not worry, but they trust God to provide their needs because He is faithful (Matthew 6:25-34).
The wisest man to ever live and the only perfect man to live warned us about the uselessness of worrying (Proverbs 3:5-6; 12:25 Matthew 6:31-33). We in the 21st-century world can learn a lot from these two men; they trusted and relied on their Heavenly Father instead of themselves or the world.
It has been almost 2 weeks since I lost my work on my external hard drive, and I decided to just unplug it and put it aside, because I know I will worry myself to death trying to fix things and recover the lost information.
That is precious energy and time I can be using for other, more productive things, like reading, writing, and trusting God to help me in my time of need. I like being productive more than worrying.
Worrying produces nothing good. Worrying is like a hamster and a hamster wheel. We can wear ourselves out but go nowhere. It is a waste of time and energy. Worry is a passive act. We focus on something that accomplishes nothing.
If you are an active or creative person like I am, you know how worry affects creativity and motivation to do things. Since worry is a direct result of the fall, it is a spiritual act of our enemy to take our eyes off of God and His goodness (John 10:10).
Worry says we don’t believe or trust God to provide for us. It takes away the joy of living in God’s creation, just like it took the first Adam’s joy of living in the garden without fear, worry, and shame (Genesis 3:10).
Jesus warned us that Satan is a thief who comes to steal the life God has given us (Luke 22:31). Worry and fear are two of Satan’s favorite tools to attack God’s people, just like they were in the garden.
We still live in a fallen kingdom and will face hard times on this side of Glory (John 16:33, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Timothy 2:3, James 1: 12). However, God uses the hard times His people face for their good and to help grow their faith (Romans 8:28, 1 Peter 1:6-7). Fluff and stuff Christianity doesn’t mature us, only hard times and the testing of our faith, that is part of our testimonies (2 Thessalonians 1:4, James 1:2-4).
It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, or where you live, we all face hard times in this life so don’t say Bah Hum Bug (Ecclesiastes 9:2, Matthew 5:45). Last month, I had so much going wrong I found myself worrying about everything from cars hitting me while I was biking, health and wealth concerns, my future and of course my hard drive.
Obviously, no one ran over me on my bike, and I am still breathing, so I’m certainly not dead. Most of the things we worry about never happen, and we just waste our time, energy, and sanity worrying about what never comes about. Because we live in a fallen world that is full of evil:
Jesus, sometimes I forget how good you are. There certainly is enough to worry about in this temporary life each day; why would we want to worry about what may or may not happen tomorrow? Last month in my neighborhood, there was a string of car break-ins, and many people worried about having their property stolen again.
The last thing I wanted to do was add something else for me to worry about, because everything is out of my control. I decided to trust God and let go of the worry. Worrying accomplishes nothing but adding stress to our lives.
The Bible warns us that there will be hard times in the last days (Matthew 24:1-51, 2 Timothy 3: 1-17). But God also promises to be with His CHILDREN to the very end, so there is no need for wasted worrying (Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 23:1-5, Matthew 28:20)!
