Musings from the Mary/Martha book - Worry

Luke 10:41: "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things." Grr! He could be speaking to me...I'm always *worrying* about something or trying to figure out *what to do,* *what to do* about all kinds of stuff. Here's what I learned from Chapter 3 on worry that the autor titles, "The Diagnosis."

"What We Worry About:"
40% - things that will never happen
30% - the criticisms of others, mostly untrue
12% - criticisms by others, mostly true
10% - health, which gets worse with stress
8% - real problems that can be solved

Worry is bad for your health so kinda dumb to worry about it. The Bible tells us "more than 350 times to 'fear not." We are actually commanded not to worry. A lot of what we worry about is imagination. I tend to have a negative *imagination* when it comes to the future -- my eyeglass to the future is dark, not rosy. But, I don't actually know the future and, frankly, my imagination hasn't been very accurate. Things turn out much better than I imagine most of the time.

Satan -- there is the distinct possibility that a lot of my negative,anxious thoughts for the future are from the devil, literally. And, why would Satan do that? Because as long as he can keep me mentally stressing on my problems, real or imagined, then I am not focusing on God, His love, His goodness, His power, His promises, His character, His victory over the world. Do I need go on? And, I am not praying, not abiding in Christ, not in His Word when I'm magnifying problems and not God. Prayer magnifies God.

So, I dunno about you, but I am going to heed the author's advice, and ask myself two questions:

1. Where are these anxious thoughts coming from? (Satan, imagination? or reality, legitimate concern?)

2. Where are they taking me? (Drawing me closer to God or into fear?)