The Cure for Anxiety

I was so excited when my husband told me the news.  He found a red cardinal nest in one of the bushes at the front of our house.  I would have been happy to hear that I could look out my livingroom's picture window and watch any nest of birds, but that they were red cardinals was extra special.  They are my favorite. In fact, I have several red cardinal decorations around my house.

The babies must have just hatched when he discovered them and each day we have peered through the window at them to check their safety and growth.  Almost every time we look at them, one of the parents is there feeding them or the babies are alone and waiting with opened mouths for a delicious mouthful of worm to be deposited.  

I noticed the babies don't seem too stressed out about where their next meal is coming from.  They just lay there with expectation that their parents will provide. In fact, they are so sure it's coming, they have their mouth ready to receive pretty much all the time. Makes me think of Matthew 6:26 AMP "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?"

Birds do have to go out and actually find food and "work" to eat, but the difference here is that while they work, their minds are not working on trying to figure this all out.  They aren't worried about how they are going to provide enough food for their babies, how they will make it through the winter, or if the neighbor's nest is bigger and nicer than theirs.  While their bodies work doing what they know to do, their minds are at peace. Does your mind need some peace? Does it need some quiet time where you could just relax and quit trying to figure everything out?

Let's read Matthew 6:25-34 from The Message translation, "If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description,careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.  If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.  Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

Wow, I love this section of Scripture.  There is sooooo much truth there. Notice they are careless in the care of God.  They don’t need to be concerned, not because they don’t have any trouble, but because their God’s got them.  And if He’s got them, He’s got you even more securely because you are worth so much more to Him than the birds.  Don’t you hold onto things that are highly valuable a little more securely than something that is not? Not feeling very valuable today?  Well, the Bible is either true or it’s not. God’s word says you are. I’m starting to discover that so much about my Christian walk is just that simple.  A simple decision to believe everything I see in God’s word as if it was really true... because it is. And when I do, it changes my life.  It changes my identity, expectation and reality.  Spend some time meditating on this fact this week.

“What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.”  Our baby cardinals are not preoccupied with getting. They aren’t leaving the nest to go get their food.  They just respond to their parent’s giving. This verse tells us that if you don’t really know God or how He works you’ll fuss or worry about getting in life.  For those who know God and His giving nature, you can relax as you become more aware of His presence, of how He is already working on your behalf and see His provision instead of fussing.  

"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss." Put yourself in a posture to receive instead of getting.  What posture is that? It’s a posture of worship. It’s a posture expectation and of having your mouth wide open to receive all He is bringing to you.  It's a posture of honoring Him enough to actually believe what He says is true.  But you're going to have to decide for God.  You'll have to choose the blessing and life - God's way of doing things instead of the old familiar way of worry and stress (the curse and death).  Doesn't sound like a hard decision to make when put that way, does it?  Choose life.   Choose God.

P.S. If you are thinking you could use some more of God’s provision in your finances and you would like to break free from the lack in your life and the anxiety that goes with it, please click here to download my FREE gift to you: 50 Kingdom Principles to Break Free From the Worry of Finances.