an equal share of His strength to
face whatever circumstances are
happening in our lives.
runs wild with worst case scenarios,
I recall the hope found in Psalm
23:4. “Even when I walk through the
darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for
2. Count your blessings. Some-
you are close beside me. Your rod
times the hurt or pain life inflicts
and your staff protect and comfort
seems like too much to handle, and
me.” It’s such a sweet verse to tuck
fears can threaten to paralyze us and into our hearts when we are feeling
steal our hope. Been there, done that afraid of the unknown. The truth is,
and bought the t-shirt. During one
the “unknown” is probably not nearly
particular season when life was more as scary as we think it might be.
difficult than ever due to a painful
situation in my marriage, I decided
4. Commit to being positive,
to start keeping a list in my journal
even if you have every reason to be
with the little daily blessings from
negative. It takes as much energy
God instead of just pouring out my
to be negative as it does to be
thoughts and anxieties each day. I
positive, so why not put our energy
soon realized that when I focused on into something that will bring joy into
my blessings, I felt more positive, even our life instead of discouragement
if my circumstances remained the
and pessimism? This is one tip I
same. As I spent time counting my
forced myself to put into practice
blessings, I spent less time and energy during the most difficult season of
counting my losses, which helped to
my life. I was spending a lot of time
boost my spirits and my faith.
being negative, obsessing over
hurt and fears, and letting negative
3. Don’t let your fears overtake
emotions, worries and fears control
you. I am a worrier. I can’t help it.
my life and my happiness. I finally
It’s a problem. I try not to, but I do. I
reached the point where I was fed
love the Lord and trust Him, but my
up with feeling sad and ready to
mind still gets lost in fears from time to start enjoying life again. I made the
time. When I can’t control a situation, choice to be positive, even when
I tend to think of all the worst case
my circumstances were less-than-
scenarios, and then my fears start
positive. It wasn’t easy, but it was
growing larger. Maybe yours do too.
worth it. When I chose to take control
After all, we’re only human, and life
of my mind and my thoughts and my
often gives us a lot of reason to worry. own happiness, I was released from
On days when I find myself feeling
the bondage the enemy had over
burdened with worry and my mind
my thinking patterns and my joy. The
46 Solutions