Sleepless Night, Worry and Anxiety

What does worry and anxiety have to do with fear and sleepless nights?

The enemy of your soul, Satan, the one who wants to destroy your peace, your family, steal your joy and cause you to turn from God because he wants you to think that God is doing this to you instead of him. Another lie of the enemy and another form of his deception.

We all hit bumps in our lives...some feel like tiny bumps that could easily go unnoticed...ones that don't leave a mark on our lives and others feel like huge pot holes on the road of life. The big ones are the ones that leave us wringing our hands, pacing the floor, twisting and turning all night, make us sick at our stomachs, not able to concentrate or enjoy the simple things in our lives.

These are things that can attack us in many areas of our lives...to name a few...work - lose of a job, difficult employer or co-works, people at work that gossip about us, finances - not enough money to pay our bills, unexpected expenses come up and no way to pay for them, loss of income or income reduced for one reason or another, sickness - life threatening, life altering - can't work, more expenses, threat of pending death due to illness, death - loss of a loved one whether it is a spouse, child, parent, sibling...it causes great pain and leaves a huge void in our lives, marriage - troubled marriage due to accidents, addictions, adultery, pornography, financial struggles can greatly affect a marriage, some marriages will end in divorce, or a spouse walks out on their family and you are looking at being a single parent, children - accidents, rebellious children, defiance, drugs, alcohol, pornography, personal attacks on your children by others, people spreading lies about your child, others making your child feel like an outcast, children who turn their backs on God and refuse to live for Him, homosexuality - whether it is a child, spouse, sibling, parent...homosexuality will destroy a family AND the list could go on and on.

We get all worked up, stressed out, anxious, physically sick, nervous, insomnia, depressed, can't eat or eat everything in sight...all because of worry and fretting over many things that we have no control of in the first place.

We try everything that we know earthly possible to "fix" what is causing all the turmoil in our lives and many times...we make things much worse.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to come to Him FIRST and not try to "fix" it first and come to Him as our last resort. There are many times that we will come to Him, lay our cares at His feet and the situation will not change (divorce, death or loss of a job..etc) will still happen but He will be right there with us, providing, protecting and loving us...NO MATTER WHAT COMES OUR WAY. God sees the whole picture where we only see what is right in front of us.

Pastor Rusty preached a very powerful, awesome message yesterday titled...All Stressed-Up and Nowhere To Go!

He made a statement that will stay with me for the rest of my life...one that is so simple but yet so powerful.

WHEN YOU CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT....DON'T COUNT SHEEP INSTEAD TALK TO THE SHEPHERD.

Take all your cares, everything to Him in prayer today...regardless, of how small or how large...how "fixable" or what seems impossible...God has a plan and a purpose for everything that happens in your life...TRUST HIM!

I Peter 5:7
Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. (Amplified)

Matthew 6:25-28
(25) "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (26) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (27) Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (28) "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

Matthew 6:33-34
(33) 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. (34)"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.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!