A “Don’t Worry” Reminder

At the end of 2022, I got a call from my doctor’s office about needing some follow-up scans to ones I’d had a few days prior. Not a call you want to get right before Christmas…or anytime really. Unfortunately, they couldn’t schedule the scans until after the first week of January. My first thought was, “I have to go through the holidays with this on my mind? Wondering if there is an unexpected something that will change my life in 2023.” Yes, I would have to go through Christmas and New Year’s celebrations without knowing if something was wrong.

Then, I remembered another time, years ago, when I got a similar call. A follow-up appointment was scheduled, but then, again, I had to wait a while to get back in. It was during an extremely busy season at work and in my family. I decided, and told God, that I didn’t have time to waste worrying about something that might or might not be! So, I shelved my concern, for the most part, until the follow-up.

In both of these cases, the second set of scans showed nothing of concern. When it happened the first time, I thought to myself, “what a waste of time and worry I would have had about nothing.” This is exactly what I told myself in the recent wait. I decided again to wait till I knew there was a real issue before getting very concerned. Yes, I wondered, yes, I prayed, but, even though it was always in the back of my mind, I refused to let it consume my time or my holidays. I knew that if there was a problem, and if 2023 would be much different from my expectations, I wouldn’t walk through it alone.

There have been so many experiences, in between these two I just shared, that I have worried about things that never occurred. Afterwards, I thought, “such a waste! And you KNOW better!” I also know there will be other things that will occur to threaten my peace, things that I know the enemy will seek to use to cause me to worry. I also know that some of these things will come to pass, they will be hard, they may even be devastating. But I also believe with all my heart, that God is sovereign and, that if He allows it, He has a purpose in it and He will use it.

In His divine providence, just before finding out recently there was nothing to worry about in the follow up scans, my life group had begun studying Philippians. In preparing to walk with them through this study, I was reminded of a fabulous book by Robert Morgan, Worry Less Live More.

It focuses on a particular passage in Philippians 4, although he references the entire book.

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

Even when I do get a difficult “diagnosis”, or face a tough situation where the answer hasn’t been “all clear”, I’ve found the Lord to be totally faithful. I know peace is available in the hardest times because I’ve experienced it. But I needed this reminder, and, no doubt, I will need it again and again in the days ahead. Do you?

I ask you, what do you do when you start to worry about something that may or may not happen? And if it does happen, what then? Fall apart, or fall into the arms of Jesus, allowing Him to carry the weight of the situation, and carry you as you walk with Him through it?

Banner photo by Molnár Bálint on Unsplash