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!

Standing On God's Promises

2007

Emotional

Discouragement

Doubt

Fear

These are just a few words to describe 2007 for our family. I can honestly say that it was one of the absolute worse years of my life.

It was full of attacks from the enemy and I allowed fear, doubt, discouragement and depression to take up residence in my life.

When it seemed like things could not get any worse...they did. I have never felt so defeated, hopeless and could not control one thing that was going on in our lives.

BUT...I will never forget December 13th, 2007...it was the day that the momentum of our lives changed and the sun began to shine again.

In my desperation, I was praying that morning...crying out to God in my pain and asking Him to speak to me through His Word. I began to thumb through my Bible...I stopped on numerous passages but nothing was speaking directly to me. I refused to give up and kept searching God's Word.

I turned to Isaiah 61 and in the NIV...the heading for this chapter was "THE YEAR OF THE LORD'S FAVOR"....I stopped immediately and began to read. This was when I felt the Lord speaking deep into my spirit...peace, hope and excitement began to fill my spirit. Yes, there was an ounce of doubt that the Lord was really speaking this passage to my family for the upcoming year....2008. So, for me....when in doubt...seek confirmation from the two wisest people that I know...Pastor Rusty and Dorinda. (Love you guys!) I texted Pastor Rusty and asked him if I could pray this passage over my family for 2008...I don't trust my interpretation of the scripture very often. He immediately texted me back and said..."Yes and you should...I will agree and pray the same prayer for you guys!". I emailed the same question to Dorinda the same day.

Then...the excitement really set it!!! Out of the entire chapter of Isaiah 61...these are the verses that we have been standing on for nearly a year.

The Year of the LORD 's Favor

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.... 7 Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. 8 "For I, the LORD , love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed."

There was hope and a promise for the coming year...God was in control and He would work all things out for His glory in His time.

BUT...it wasn't until the next day that I received this email from Dorinda that I began to REALLY shout...here is her original email:

Jennifer!

awesome ! that is amazing...

last night before i went to bed i was praying for you. i did not hear an audible voice but i knew God was speaking to me to send you an email about the power of praying the word ..... and after talking to you the other day about 2008, Isaiah 61 was on my heart!

any way - here is what went through my head last night as i was praying for you....

Hebrews 4:12 says -
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thought and attitudes of the heart.

The KJV says quick and powerful

The part about the double edged is what I want to get at. On one side it fights the devil. The enemy cowers when we SPEAK the word of God. He knows he cannot begin to battle that power.... It was the spoken word of God that created the universe and that cast the enemy from the portals of heaven to where he is now. The spoken word of God is powerful when fighting the enemy. That is why it is so important to not only read and meditate on God's word but to speak it out loud. The enemy cannot read our minds. He shivers on what he hears out of our mouths.

The other edge of the sword is where the power of meditating and reading God's Word comes in. From one side we fight the enemy- from the other side we clean ourselves up. Rusty's blog on Tuesday I think dealt with that. But God's word penetrates to our soul and spirit and circumcises our heart.... as the Bible says - that just means it helps us to crucify our flesh.

So - when you read Isaiah 61 and you get to verse 7 - that says "instead of their shame my people - Roger and Jennifer W - will receive a double portion and instead of disgrace Roger and Jennifer will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. For I, the lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity (robbery of people not paying their rent). In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them! Tell the devil out loud what God's word says. Shout it at him. Then meditate on it every day. This is God's promise to you! I am so glad God gave you this verse before I had a chance to share it with you, because now you know that God promised this Word to YOU.

Throughout the Bible we are told to meditate on God's Word (think about and repeat over and over again to ourselves) pray God's Word ( the only way we can be sure to pray according to the will of God) speak God's Word (like Jesus did when he was tempted to be discouraged - spoke it out loud to satan)

remember also verse 10 in the rough times: I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoice in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.....

Jennifer, God is raising you up to be a warrior. I know you are tired of fighting the emotional and spiritual battles, but I see the warrior spirit in you. God sees time so much different than we do. He is infinite and we see time through our finite beings. Time for God is just like this line below

________________________________________________

He looks down and sees the beginning as well as the ending and all the points in between. He sees your good times and your rough times, but ultimately He sees your rejoicing in heaven for eternity. That is how He works all things for the good of those who love Him.

That is why placing our trust in Him is so vital. Trusting Him when we are tired and worn out. Trusting Him when we feel all is going down the tubes. Trusting Him when we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. Simple trust. He has promised you victory - so tomorrow, if it brings worse news than yesterday, you can trust in Him.

The other scripture I have been praying for you and Roger is Psalm 25. The whole chapter deals with asking Him to show His ways and teach His paths. It is my most favorite chapter in the whole Bible. I probably read it about 10 times each week.

love ya girl! you are a precious friend. i love you dearly and am so thankful you consider me to be your friend.

dorinda

2008 has been a wonderful year full of promise, excitement, renewed hope, strength and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Please pray with us for my meeting at 11 AM tomorrow as I meet with two investors from California who are in town to purchase investment property. They will be looking at all 11 houses to take over. Please pray for favor with V and J and a workable deal that both parties will be happy with.

Tomorrow could be the answer to the prayers that we have been praying for since last year and the promise from December 13th, 2007 of Isaiah 61 coming to fruition.

Have a blessed day and rejoicing in Him!

Jennifer

Too Many Irons In The Fire

I woke up again this Monday morning battling anxiety. I began to search through my thoughts, my feelings, my emotions and my life to find the source of the anxiety this week. I knew where it was coming from last week and God answered those prayers regarding the situation causing the anxiety, as well as the anxiety itself. Praise The Lord! God is so good!

I realized what the problem is this week and I was already aware of this but didn't realize it would be causing me to battle with anxiety.

Too many irons in the fire!

I am normally a very organized person who if you asked me for something...I could lay my hands on it immediately.

Everything has a place and everything should be in it's place is my motto.

Well...you couldn't tell it from my house and my life these days. There is so much chaos, projects started but yet to be completed, overload of work in my job, long work hours 4 days a week, longing to simplify our lives and not enough time to do the things that I want to do.

I used to be a million times worse than I am now on organization and perfectionism, but as I get older...things become less important. As I watch the years fly by and my baby growing up so fast...I get overwhelmed and emotional thinking about it.

So, I ask myself..."What part of this mess can you, Jennifer, control?"

Well...I am setting my sights on completing one unfinished project at a time...starting with my dining room which has been a disaster for 3 weeks now. It is 90% complete but finding the time to actually finish the project has been the problem...well, finding the energy to climb up and down the ladder to paint the crown molding is more like it.

Here's a few more irons in the fire that I have...

• find affordable health insurance for our family....SOON!
• complete our budget...target...be debt free...spent the weekend talking about Roger retiring in 10 years and where we want to be financially...yikes...we aren't ready yet!
• organize office after rearranging furniture
• get new desk picked up and brought home...the arrangement now is too cramped...always tripping over stuff
• organize office closet where all my work files are kept, office supplies and personal stuff...can't find anything
• hang new office drapes...after moving rod up and patching holes in window facing
• catch the laundry up...way behind
• caulk Tyler's bathtub...used new brand caulk...must have been bad...peeled off within a week....grrrrrrr. Actually, this will be the 3rd time in a month that I have done it...won't use that brand of caulk again!
• finish patching and sanding the sheetrock in his bathroom
• paint his bathroom...had the paint for 2 months now...going to try my hand at striping it...oh boy!
• do Fall yard work
• clean out garage and attic
• oh....did I mention...I'm having a garage sale the 1st of October

Ok...I know what you are thinking...I am bringing all this on myself...well, you're right but it all needs to be done and several projects have been started and are screaming to be finished NOW.

I am overwhelmed right now.

After a 10 hour day at work...I don't have the energy or desire to do too much at night and weekends are too short as it is. I enjoy doing all of these type of projects and don't usually ask for help.

Not to mention that Roger is working his full-time job and working the police department 5 nights this week, off on Saturday (he'll be a zombie) and then back on for 5 more nights...till midnight. He gets up at 6 AM, gets ready, at work by 7 AM, gets off around 4:30, comes home, changes clothes, goes to police department and works to midnight...comes home, eats, showers, goes to bed and gets up at 6 AM to start it all over again. Thank you, Lord...this is not normal and won't last but a couple of weeks.

As much as I want to finish this stuff...it will not come before family time with Roger and Tyler. I made that mistake years ago...having to make sure the house was clean, organized and the yard is all done before spending time with Brandon and Tyler. I missed a lot of good times that I can't ever get back and I won't do it again.

So...anxiety and worry...you have no place in my heart, mind or home. The Word of God speaks clearly about worry.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NIV)

Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (NIV)

New Motto: One thing at a time!