My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Griswold, told me that I made mountains out of molehills. My struggles with worry started a long time ago. It has always come so naturally for me to do. I always feel like I have such a good and compelling reason to worry. It seems like the logical response given whatever situation I’m in.

I’ve started to learn however, that worry is not a friend…it’s an enemy. There is something about it that feels appealing. It seems to offer a sense of control and protection. If I worry, maybe I can somehow skirt by the troubles that so many people face. This feeling of protection and pseudo-safety make you overlook the many devastating effects of worry.

One of the definitions of worry says, “to seize, especially by the throat, with the teeth and shake or mangle, as one animal does another.” What an image, huh? Worry drives up anxiety and stress like the worst power tool on the planet. It makes it to where you can’t experience your own life. There is this constant buffer that always exists between you and the real world. It feels safe, but it’s a lie. Worry brings with it the feeling that there is always danger around every corner. It says, “Don’t ever let your guard down because as soon as you do, disaster will strike.” 

It’s a horrible thing to carry around. I’ve recently begun seeing it for the problem it is. I used to so casually say, “Oh yeah, I was worrying about this or that,” and I wouldn’t even think twice about it. I wouldn’t so casually say that about other vices. I wouldn’t stand with a group of adults at church and casually say, “Yesterday I was envying like crazy…” I would express something like that to close friends with a heart of confession, because I see envy as a sin. I always just saw worry in a different light, like it wasn’t so bad or something.

Worry is me making the constant and decisive mental choice to not trust God. I’ve begun actively confessing it to God and others for the sake of healing. I don’t see it anymore as a natural response to the trials and pressures of daily life. I see it instead, as a cancer that must be destroyed if I am going to live the life I was designed to live.

What about you? Do you worry? Do you see it as a problem? What are you going to do about it?