Worry Jar

 source photo

Have you ever seen a swear jar?  My grandpa had one that you have to put a dime in every time you swore.  This might be a good concept for a lot of sin.  My biggest challenge right now is to stop worrying.  Like some of you I would fit into the category of "worry wart"  I always have been one.  I love how nowadays we have a new name for it...stress.  I'm Stressed Out, I can say instead of plain old I'm Worried, tre chic.

If I was God I would have a giant problem with believers who worry.  I know that I should know better than a lot of people as to why I shouldn't worry.  I have so many examples in my own life where God has come through for me, where he's taken care of me, where he's always had a plan.  Why is it so easy to forget these things?  I'm trying my best not to.  But this takes discipline, which means it's hard and doesn't come naturally.  So I'm putting myself through the discipline of prayer. I have to daily give up my concern about out future, which is rapidly approaching, and give it to God.  It's like a pre-swear jar.  "God I know I'm going to pick this worry up today so I'm giving it to you now."  I know that God is faithful.  I know that God provides.  I have examples in my own life I can take comfort in.  I don't need to be afraid.

Romans 8:24-30 (NIV)

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
 ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.