How to Make U-Turns in LifeSample

Day 3: U-Turn from Anxiety

It’s amazing how quickly our emotions can change. A new report from our doctor, an envelope in the mail with the words “final notice” written on it, or a harsh word from our boss can flip our emotions faster than a surfboard in a hurricane. This is because our emotions are, by and large, responders. Emotions react. They move from influence to influence, leaving us with little stability at all. Worry, fear, anxiety, or dread -- call it what you will -- plague most people today because they have not yet learned one very important truth, a truth that will set you free: Emotions have no intellect.

You do not have to be controlled by your emotions. If you’ve hopped on the emotional rollercoaster of life, you can choose today to get off. I don’t care what is provoking you, irritating you, or aggravating you.  God’s Word gives you the power to walk away. Your level of worry and anxiety is up to you.

I’m not saying you are to dismiss struggles or real issues in your life. Things need to be addressed. Decisions should be made. And concern takes you in the direction you should go. But what I am saying is that, as a believer in Jesus Christ, anxiety should never own you. 

Jesus commands us not to worry. And when Jesus tells you not to do something, but you choose to do it anyway, that is called a sin. Yes, to worry is to sin. 

Now, before we go further, I want to give some clarification here about those individuals who suffer from a chemical imbalance such that their physical and chemical reality produces anxiety. There are those situations where a person’s emotions may sit outside of his or her immediate control because of physiological realities, and where medication to address the imbalance is needed. That is not the anxiety I am talking about here. 

What I am addressing now are the times when life’s circumstances control your emotions or when a fear of potential circumstances dictates how you feel about yourself, where you choose to be, how well you function, or even whether you function. It tells you if you can get up in the morning or if you should fall asleep early. It’s when fear owns you.

The thought that rests at the core of our worry and anxiety and the emotional and physical consequences that accompany it is that we really do not know "Who" we are dealing with. We really do not understand the nature of God nor the depth of His love. We have lost our awe of God. And thus, because our view of God is so small, we find ourselves prone to worry and anxiety.

When you are overcome with anxiety, channel your focus off your problem and put it on the Almighty God who loves you. He is able to do all you could ever need and more. But you’ve got to recognize that. You need to put God in His rightful place in your heart and on the throne of your emotions. 

When you do, you will see heaven visit history, eternity visit earth, and peace replace panic as God gives you your emotional U-turn. You’ll witness God visit you in such a profound way that you can toss worry aside and replace it with praise and thanksgiving.