Key Question - How do you deal with anxiety?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34

Bottom Line

Jesus doesn’t condemn us for our worry and anxiety, but rather, seeks to free us and liberate us from its grip.

Three Moves

• Acknowledge and entrust your needs to God
• Stay focused on the present
• Seek first the kingdom

Action Steps

Prayer:

• How has worry and anxiety showed up in your family? What has your experience been with it?
• Where is God inviting you into trust, to focus on the present, and to seek first the kingdom?
• How might Jesus be seeking to free you from shame today?
  

Practice:

1. Breath Prayer
   
   • Inhale = The Lord is my shepherd‍
   • Exhale = I have all that I need‍
2. Practicing the Presence of God - Whenever you find yourself worry about something, remind yourself that God is with you in the present by rehearsing, “God with me, God ahead of me.”