Day 3: What Can You Control?
Take just a minute to write down the four biggest stressors you have in life right now. Of these four stressors, which ones do you have some control over? (Weight Loss, Diet, How you respond to marriage/family relational challenges, Debt, Time Management, etc.) And which ones do you have no control over? (Other people’s attitudes and/or decisions, work schedule, etc.)
Here’s how this plays out in our lives: we don’t provide the time and attention to the things we can control because we stress too much about the things we can’t control. We think things like, “Well, I can’t really do anything about my work schedule right now, so maybe I’ll eat out to feel better.” Or, “My extended family members are so far from God right now, I’m so worried for them! Maybe I should go shopping so I can stop thinking about it.”
You see? Stressing about those things outside of our control hinder our ability to make progress in the areas we can control. Perhaps it’s time to be different. Write down those things that you know you cannot control, and set them aside. Put them someplace where you’ll see them often (a jar on a shelf) , and every time you see them you can remind yourself that God is in control. Then, you can better partner with God and focus your energies on those stressors in which you know you have some control.
READING:
Isaiah 35:4; 41:10; 1 John 4:18; Psalm 23:4
What are the biggest stressors in your life in which you have no control over? Do you think that physically writing them down and setting them aside may help you remember that God is in control?
Read 1 John 4:18. What do you think it means that there is no fear in love? How would you explain this verse to a friend or relative who struggles with fear and worry?
Have you ever found yourself failing to overcome the things in which you do have some control over because you gave in to worrying about the things in which you have no control over?
God is inviting you to change the way you think about your worries, depression and anxiety. How will you think differently this week?
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, today I’m grateful for the reminder that there are challenges in my life which I can control, but there are others that are fully outside of my control. Help me to grow by rooting out all of the weeds (things in which I have no control) so that even though I walk in darkness, I will fear no evil. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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