Praying Instead Of Worrying

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? - Matthew 6:27

I was reading a devotion by Lysa Terkeurst recently, and in it, she wrote a line that hit me like a ton of bricks. Or as I like to say, the Holy Spirit knocked me upside the head with a heavenly two-by-four. The line went something like this:

You will make so much more progress in your life as a result of praying than you will from worrying.

I felt so convicted when I read that statement because I had been living like the opposite was true. I was worrying like my life depended on it, and often failing at bringing things to the Lord in prayer.

So for the past couple of weeks, any time I’ve been tempted to start worrying or stressing, I started praying. I haven’t done this perfectly, trust me. But I’ve tried to make a point to talk to God about whatever was weighing on me instead of running through 342 different “what-if” statements in my head, 340 of which will probably never even happen.

And can I tell you, Lysa’s words have proved themselves to be very true in even the short amount of time I’ve tried to apply them. I’ve seen God make progress that I never could have made on my own, and I’ve seen Him answer not only some of the big prayers I’ve brought to Him, but I’ve also seen Him answer a bunch of the little ones too.

It’s been the neatest thing to see how God works when we genuinely ask Him for help and acknowledge that we can figure everything out on our own.

It’s these situations that remind me of when I was a kid and I would go to my parents and talk to them about something that was bothering me. If it was something they could help with, they would listen to me talk, and then they’d say, “Why don’t you let us handle this one?" I would immediately feel relief flood my body, knowing that they were taking this big, worrisome thing off my plate.

That’s exactly what God wants to do for each of us as our Heavenly Father. He’s listening to us, wanting to help us, and saying, “Why don’t you let me handle this one?” So why don’t we let Him?

Whatever’s on your mind today, I hope that you’ll take Lysa’s words to heart and begin to pray when you’re tempted to worry. I hope you’ll trust that God can take care of whatever’s stressing you out way better than you could on your own. And I pray that you’ll let Him handle this for you because He’s more than capable. Will you trust Him to take your worries off your hands?