Why should I worry? Why do I freak out?

I know that I've posted this song before, probably several times before, but it's lyrics continue to speak truth.  Lately, one line in particular has stood out to me:

"So why should I worry?  Why do I freak out?"

Why do it?  I'm amazed by my faithlessness at times, amazed by how small my faith is.  I found myself trapped by worry, worrying about how I'm going to fulfill the desires and opportunities that God's placed on my heart.  Namely, for the past few weeks I've been worrying about how I'm going to start school in the fall without a job.  When I received a part time job, I worried that it wasn't going to be enough.  When I received another job, I worried that now it would be too much.  Eish.  Why do I worry?  Why do I freak out?  GOD KNOWS WHAT I NEED.  HE KNOWS WHAT I NEED.

Truth.  God knows what I need.  He's laid these desires on my heart and provided me with the opportunity to continue my schooling.  He is the Great Provider.  He will not fail me.  He will never leave or forsake me.  God knows what I need.  And He wants to provide me with these good gifts (Matthew 7:11).

LORD, forgive me for worrying.  Forgive me for my doubts.  Forgive me for not trusting you.  Great is Your faithfulness!  You never fail.  You will sustain me.  You are the Great Provider.  LORD, thank You for providing me with the opportunities to learn, to work, and to serve.  You are God alone.  You are my only hope.  Even when I am faithless, You remain faithful, for You cannot disown Yourself.  I will trust in You.  Where you lead, LORD.  Where You lead.

Here is a trustworthy saying:
   If we died with him,
   we will also live with him;
 if we endure,
   we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
   he will also disown us;
 if we are faithless,
   he remains faithful,
   for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 11-13

Everyday Simplicity

Quotes from Robert Wicks book

"So often we sleep through life.  If we only snap out of our complacency when struck by a loss or confronted by the fragility of life, any talk about a 'spiritual life' will be wistful,magical".

"Even the predictable turns into surprise the moment we stop taking it for granted". (David Stendl-Rast)

(In discussing idols) "In other words, what is blackmailing us into believing something must result or someone must respond in a certain way before we can be at peace, joyful"?

"There is much we can receive from God if we have 'eyes of gratefulness'.  But if, instead, we face life with a sense of entitlement we will apprach life with demands, expectations, and rules regarding what we need to be peaceful and joyful.  This sense of entitlement is indeed one of the major enemies of a spiritual attitude.  It hardens our soul and keeps us from appreciating the gifts we've been given".

"There is no 'then'.  There is only now".

"One of the best ways to 'turn back time' in a positive way is to not waste energy on regret or nostalgia, but rather to us past ignorance to help us focus on the sacred, wonderul moment right now".

"If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse.  You may be dead". (Gelett Burgess)

"What does my daily behavior say about the person I am"?

"as we sit with scriptures during, or at the end of, a stressful week, our troubles and confusion don't disappear.  But, with the sacred words before us, our concerns take their proper perspective and move to the edge of our lives rather than remaining as tyrants at the center".

"Compassion is not a matter of giving
compulsively and lavishly.  Instead, it is the natural outgrowth of having a spiritually-rounded attitude and a life of prayerfulness".

"People are not noble because they succeed or are applauded by others.  Their lives are honorable and worthy of emulation because they are striving for what is good- no matter what the results!  God asks us to be involved not because we are called to be successful, but because we are called to be faithful".

"When we recognize how easily we can be hurt, we tend to seek to be more gentle with others".

"We must recive our satisfaction from our faithfulness alone and not from results or gratitude".

"Kindness requires slowing down, paying real attention, and sharing some of yourself with others.  But that requires you to get out of yourself, your own needs, your own desires.  Actually, because it is a product of our gratefulness to God in prayer and is cradled by our spiritual attitude, kindness is unselfconscous.  Kindness is a natural unselfconscous outpouring of all you know you have been given yourself.  That is why peoplw with so little can be so kind.  They have the good fortune to feel blessed in all they receive, so the blessings keep coming and flow through them to others".

"Let us endeavor to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry". (Mark Twain)