I was in the middle of a counseling session years ago after a painful breakup pouring my deepest worries out to my counselor, \u201cWhat if I lost something good? What if the pain never goes away? What if I never heal? What if I never get married?\u201d I was getting more and more worked up when she stopped me mid-sentence and asked me something that forever changed my perspective on worry, \u201cWhat if?\u201d. I shockingly replied, \u201cExactly, WHAT IF! What if all these worries turn into realities? That is why I\u2019m here!\u201d<\/p>\n
She then kindly responded, \u201cI understand all of that, but I am only hearing your worst-case what ifs, I have yet to hear your best-case what ifs.\u201d Confused, I said, \u201cWell that would be silly, I wouldn\u2019t worry if I thought of the best-case what ifs\u201d. \u201cBINGO!\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
Worry is fixating on the potential problems<\/em> of the future, while fixating on the potential goodness<\/em> of the future eliminates worry entirely \u2013 and although worry gives the illusion of control, Jesus explains in Luke that worry adds nothing to your life. In fact, it takes life away from you.<\/p>\n \u201cDoes worry add anything to your life? Can it add one more year, or even one day? So if worrying adds nothing, but actually subtracts from your life, why would you worry about God’s care of you?\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Luke 12:25-31 TPT<\/p>\n But while God is on mission to help you find the abundant \u201cworry-free\u201d life, the enemy is also on mission to do the exact opposite.<\/p>\n \u201cA thief has only one thing in mind\u2014he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect\u2014life in its fullness until you overflow\u201d<\/em><\/strong> John 10:10 TPT<\/p>\n If the enemy can\u2019t destroy you, he will distract you and he distracts by keeping you busy with things that don\u2019t matter. Maybe you\u2019ve heard this acronym for busy: Being Under Satan\u2019s Yoke. If he can keep you busy with worry, he doesn\u2019t have to destroy you, you will destroy yourself.<\/p>\n But there is good news! We have power over our enemy. We have power over our worry. We have power over our thought life and what we believe about the future. It\u2019s not going to come naturally, but it is more than possible to experience victory on this side of heaven! It just takes time, practice, and the word of God.<\/p>\n “We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> 2 Corinthians 10:5 TPT<\/p>\n Stop believing the lies that the worst is going to happen and start believing the truth that God is up to something good, because He is!<\/p>\n \u201cSo we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Romans 8:28 TPT<\/p>\n So, what can we do? I love practical help because this all sounds great, right? But as we know we aren\u2019t transformed my knowledge alone but applied knowledge. \u00a0I learned to flip my thoughts from worry into worship and it greatly transformed my thoughts and therefore my life.<\/p>\n I started with an inventory. You can\u2019t fix a problem you haven\u2019t identified. In my phone notepad I wrote down every worst-case what if I had about my future, next to that I wrote the exact opposite best-case what if, and next to that a scripture to back up every lie the enemy had me believing:<\/p>\n\n\t\t