The Worry Chair

"Don't fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It is wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."  

Philippians 4: 6-7

The Message

Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers.........A good reminder for those of us who make worrying an art form.  

It has been a rough week or two...or three......  The whole eye thing that has had five doctors puzzled wants to steal my joy.  Then radon.  It has been more than a little disturbing to realize that for 14 years we have been breathing and living in radiation gas.  Not cool.  We are trying not to think how much of it weighs in on me having cancer three times.....or the other health issues that could come up for us.  We are extremely grateful for God bringing it to our attention.  

A man trained in venting radon came to our home Tuesday morning.  We are hoping he will be able to take care of it in a day as he thought.  And soon.  He let us know that 7 out of 10 houses in Iowa have high levels of radon.  He told us where he thought it was coming in the most...which is the open area under our stairs that comes into our living space.  It averaged 10 here, but he said in winters it would be higher because of the frozen ground, etc.  Lots of info we are wishing we knew about years ago.  Joel knows the man, from a church where he was Interim a few years ago.  Trustworthy man, which is always reassuring when dealing with something like this.

It has been hard not to put on my worry hat and sit in my worry rocker.  You know, worrying gets you  nowhere....just like rocking in a rocking chair.  Back and forth can be soothing, but it can also wear grooves in the floor, break down the chair, and keep us stuck in fear.  Yeah.  Fear.

When it comes to fear, we either trust God or we try to control our circumstances.  We tend to think worry is helpful.....but it is not.  Ever.  I like what The Message says about it.  Don't fret or worry!  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers.  From experience I know when I praise God, fear takes a backseat.  God's same old instruction to give praise keeps coming up again and again. I think God knew what He was doing when He gave us praise as a weapon of warfare.  It is not always easy.......and at tim es becomes a sacrifice of praise as the Bible mentions in Hebrews.  

Praise keeps our eyes on Jesus.  Praise keeps our hearts open to hear God's voice.  Praise turns our worries into prayers that we can leave at the feet of our Savior.  Praise shifts the atmosphere around us.  The enemy hates praise., and that makes it a great weapon of warfare.  

God continues to tell me to praise and worship Him, so I am.  It beats the alternative.....rocking in the worry chair and wearing grooves in the floor.