OCTOBER 2017
What causes Anxiety? A few of numerous reasons below:
Three major hurricanes this summer
58 killed and hundreds wounded in the Vegas shooting
Wildfires in California taking lives and destroying home
Airplanes falling out of the sky
Bull markets go Bear
Friends you have that are facing a job loss
People fighting cancer or another debilitating disease
Couples getting a divorce
Many battling an addiction
Others facing a financial hardship
Anxiety comes in many different shapes and sizes and the above list could be much longer. When I was a young boy we mainly called it “worry .”” My father was, in my opinion, the world’s #11 worrier. He was a Godly man who loved my mother, and sister and me deeply. He never abused us and always told us how much he loved us, but he worried about everything, and although I never kept track, my guess is that at least 99%% of everything he worried about never happened.
One of my favorite authors is Max Lucado – I used to think I had every book he had written but then I discovered that my book budget couldn’t keep up with his writing ability. I think we would all agree that our world is more chaotic than most of us can ever remember and recently dealing with some anxiety of my own, I purchased his latest book, Anxious for Nothing……..finding Calm in a Chaotic World. In the small amount of space that I have left, let me share a few of Lucado’s thoughts on Anxiety::
Anxiety and fear are cousins but not twins.
Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one.
The presence of anxiety is unavoidable,
But the prison of anxiety is optional.
Mr.. Lucado’s book is based on this well-known passage: Phil. 4:4-8
Celebrate God’s goodness – Verse 4
Ask God for help – Verse 6
Leave your concerns with Him – Verse 6
Meditate on good things – Verse 8
May God give us His CALM and Peace in the midst of anxiety.
Thank you for faithfully standing with Fishbowl Ministries each month.
