Worry Warts

We all know the feeling. How it creeps up from some deep well within us and slowly wraps it's slimy tendrils around our hearts, sending us down a spiral of "what if's" or "how will I", etc. Worry is such a sick enemy, and it is one that has long-lasting implications if we allow it to rule over us. Now, I'm speaking as one who has up close and personal experience in being a so-called "worry-wart",and in thinking about that specific designation, I began to wonder,

"How do we even get warts?" (By touching frogs, of course. Duh)

Maybe some of you already know this, but I did not before this morning. Warts are caused by coming into contact with a virus that gets into a scratch on the skin. The virus that causes them can be encountered anywhere, from a doorknob to a bag in the grocery store! It causes an infection that manifests itself in an outer skin reaction that is hard to the touch, but can also be painful. Right now, our daughter has a wart on her hand that we have to keep covered in duct tape to try and dry it out. I can't help but think about worry.

See, worry gets into us through the tiniest of cuts in our armor. We have a thought that God won't provide, or that God isn't good. And we can come into contact with worry anywhere. We might be watching new coverage on this pandemic. We might be paying attention to our stocks and 401(k) losses. We might be looking at our dwindling bank accounts. The fact is the things that we worry about indicate where we trust God least. Those are areas where we have believed the lie that God can't do everything or care for everyone. Another comparison I read said that when we worry, we willingly inflict abuse upon ourselves.

We willingly allow ourselves to dwell on difficult circumstances, overwhelming fears, and others stresses that weight us down. Worry causes our bodies extreme distress, and like warts, can manifest in ways that are harmful both inside and outside of us. If we imagine worry as a fire, the more we worry, the bigger the fire and the hotter it burns. Yet by not worrying, we free ourselves to do things that will actually make a difference in the world...like moving in faith with God. And by choosing to focus more on God's faithfulness than our faithlessness, we are able to effectively cut off the warts of worry and live the kind of physically and spiritually healthy lives that God intended for us.

So I challenge you, (and me) to find verses that speak to those warts of worry in our lives like these:

Philippians 4:6-7

1 John 4:18

2 Timothy 1:7

Psalms 121

Isaiah 40:28-31

Romans 8:35-39

1 Peter 5:7-8

Use the word! Be blessed!