Calm My Anxious Heart, chapter 8

We're more than halfway through Calm My Anxious Heart! Here are the earlier chapters: chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7

"Worry is like a rocking chair." Yes. That's the name of this chapter. And this week, I have really been fighting to get out of that rocking chair. On Tuesday we were informed that the apartment we live in was sold, and that we had one week to move. Ack! I really worried the first night. I didn't sleep much. But then, I was able to calm down, get busy and trust. God, in His great mercy, also made it a little easier for me: He allowed my husband to find us a new apartment the very next day. (A miracle here!) Sometimes He has wanted me to stop worrying first, before He does something obvious. Sometimes He has mercy on my weakness and gives me extra help.

But enough about me! This chapter starts off talking about what worry and anxiety are. Lots of good quotes there, but I think we know the definitions. Linda Dillow then says that worry really is sin and moves on to how we can fight it:

The apostle Peter showed us how this is possible, and in 1 Peter 5:6-7 gave us an alternative to carrying the anxiety ourselves.... The French version says literally, "Unload on Him all your cares." The Greek word for cast means "to hurl." The Phillips translation of verse 7 is my personal favorite: "You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern." It is glorious truth! (page 124)

Humility is a key here. Out of 1 Peter 5:6-7, we usually hear more about the second verse, but in order to cast those cares, we need to humble ourselves to trust God completely.

One more thing that I had not noticed before: Peter, who wrote these verses, had been a worrier! In the story of him walking on the water to Jesus, he worried so much that he took his eyes off of Jesus and started to sink. But years later he was able to write these verses. "It was a process for Peter; it is a process for us" (page 128).

Linda shares some "visual aids" for dealing with worry (a worry box, a word picture of jumping into Jesus' arms, etc). Do you have something like this that helps you? Also, what are you worried about right now? We'll pray about it together!