Worry

Heart pounding. Hands sweating. Mind racing. Stomach churning. You can’t seem to get a handle on it. You feel out of control. There doesn’t seem to be a way out. Worry has taken over and you’re now its play thing.

Worry is something we all experience. We know there is no benefit to it. We know it can be debilitating. Yet, sometimes we just can’t stop. It happens.

While researching some scripture, I came across this description of worry. It’s good enough that I want to share it.

What is worry? Our English word “worry” comes from the Anglo Saxon word that means
“to strangle”; worry certainly does strangle people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
The Bible term “be careful” or “be anxious” means literally “to be torn apart.” Worry comes when the thoughts in our mind and feelings in our heart pull us in different directions and “tear us apart”. The mind thinks about the problems, and these feelings weigh down the heart, creating a vicious circle that wrecks our emotional state. Our minds tell us we should not fret, but we often cannot control the anxiety in our hearts! We have to break the cycle of worry before we can enjoy peace.

This paragraph is found in Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament. It’s the opening description for Philippians 4 and it contains some powerful insights on how worry impacts us.

It is my hope that you found this description informative. I’m a firm believer that awareness is one of the best ways to work through something. I plan on addressing this topic again in later posts.

How has worry impacted your life?