Curriculum Vitae (CV) is Latin for “course of life.”  God knows my course of life perfectly well, from the moment of conception in my mother’s womb until the moment I draw my last breath. God knows that apart from being qualified and proficient in several positive fields of endeavour I am vastly experienced in the negative field of worry. For me, worry was a natural tendency—I didn’t need to learn the practice from any person. I was a “natural” worrier!

For the first fifty-years of my life I practiced worrying about this and that to the point whereby my worry-skill had developed to the level of proficiency that no one close to me easily detected my condition. Worry was a destructive element in my life that robbed me of much mental and physical health and minimized potential opportunities that would have vastly improved the quality of my life.

Friends, the practice of worry is deadly… it’s a killer! If worry and high anxiety go unmanaged, the practice eventually leads to depression, and suicide. Although these affects are the outcome of excessive stress, stress is simply the trigger. Whether or not a person becomes a victim of worry depends on how well they manage stress in the normal challenges that can be expected in life in our troublesome world.

How did I cope with stress in my long season of worry? Well, if an important matter, real or imagined, remained unresolved in my mind for far too long my condition of stress would progress to worry, to claustrophobia, to agoraphobia, to panic attacks, and finally… to suicidal thoughts. Three times in my adult life I entertained suicide, each incident being ten years apart. With each experience, the thought of dying was more appealing than the thought of living. Yes, I was married, with children, at those times.

On the “anxietyuk.org.uk” website, the following testimony from a person named Winston supports the promotion of the book “Overcoming Worry and Generalised Anxiety Disorder.” In the article, Winston said…

     There is so much advice about overcoming anxiety and worrying that it is sometimes difficult to know where to start and what to believe. This book is brilliant because it helps you understand your problem, and then empowers you to overcome it for yourself. One of the symptoms of anxiety is to search for lots of information, but I would encourage anyone to avoid reading all the anxiety related horror stories on the web – what is the point? Instead, take control of your own life and read this book. It was recommended to me by my cognitive behavioural therapist.”

Friends, the advice given by Winston to “take control of your own life and read this book” is in my opinion wrong advice… it does not work, it cannot work! As worry is a dysfunctional trait of our sin-nature, no person can self-correct their faulty condition. We need to be helped by a fault-free, supernatural force that is greater than ourselves. That force is God!

50-years of worrying? Sure, I’m a slow learner… but eventually I did learn. Concerning my debilitating condition, God came to my rescue with these instructions from Scripture (please read the verses at snail pace) …

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7 NLT).

To aid your understanding of that passage, let me share with you an acronym that summarizes and simplifies the instruction given by God through Paul. The acronym is S.W.A.P. = Stop Worrying And Pray! In verse 6, the command to “stop” implies that God has given us the ability to stop worrying! The command to “pray” also implies we have been given an open-line to God through prayer. Now, understand this: If we “choose” to worry, prayer is powerless and useless. However, if we “choose” to pray, we will be filled with peace from God, instead of worry! Let me also add: The command to SWAP is a command to GIVE to God something (our worries) before He can give to us what we need (His peace). Our problems for His peace is a great swap for you and me! There’s no need to whinge to God about your problems any longer than it takes to GIVE THEM TO HIM! (Give, give, give to Him… not just inform Him.)

In addition, God gives clear instruction that saves us from ever worrying! In verses 8 and 9 of the Philippians passage, Paul says… And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Friends, once we have swapped our problems for His peace, we are instructed to “fix” our thoughts on what is true, honourable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. It is only as we do this are we safeguarded from being overcome with crippling worry. If we “think” right, we can “act” right.  For believers, worry is a choice! You can be a warrior in your challenges IF you first resign from being a worrier. This is my rock-solid testimony: Regardless of life’s circumstances (past, present, and future), worry-free living is a reality!

Best wishes,
Bill