Author John Mason writes: ‘I couldn’t feel at peace. Unless I had everything figured out, I became anxious, restless, nervous, worried, and grouchy…I was a Christian and supposedly walked by faith. I trusted Jesus for salvation, but in other areas I trusted myself.’ Does any of this sound familiar? When we’re anxious, the thing we’re worrying about can often become our only focus, and seems like it’s taking over our whole life. A lot of the time, our worry can stem from fearing the unknown. We want to be in control and we want to know what’s going to happen, so we rely on ourselves because that’s one thing in the situation that we can control. But only God can see the outcome, and He knows what’s best for each one of us, according to His plan. Have a read of 2 Chronicles 20. It tells the story of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. His enemies from neighbouring territories formed a massive army that outnumbered his own, and were on their way to attack Judah. Jehoshaphat must’ve been extremely worried about this. So what did he do? He told God about his fears, saying: ‘we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you’ (2 Chronicles 20:12 NIV). He put his trust in God, and in the end, the enemy armies were destroyed before they even got to Judah. People often say we shouldn't worry because most of the things we worry about don’t happen. But if we’re feeling anxious about something, it doesn’t matter if it’s likely to happen or not; what we should do is tell God about our fear first. We can trust Him, because he cares for us and won't leave us to face things alone.

What now?
Whenever you feel anxious or worried about something, try to get into the habit of using those feelings as your reminder to pray and tell God about the things that are worrying you.