Don't Worry Be Happy

Why do we worry so much? Why be anxious? I feel like my "worry world" started when I got pregnant with Claire and has been one thing after another. Or is this just life and what being a grown up is all about?? This is not intended to be a poor pitiful me post, I do know that everyone has their own battles and no one's life is perfect...it's true, know matter how it looks from the outside...no one's life is perfect. I am sure this no news alert to you. Obviously, I am not the only person in this world that let's things beyond our control drive them to near nuts, take hold of your mind so much you can't focus on anything, sleep, think...and why do we let this happen?? I mean the drug companies are making a killing over anti-anxiety meds...no I don't take any of them but there are days I think I need too. Every time I find my mind wandering to the anxious side of life I try to remind myself that the Lord tells us to be anxious in nothing except Him. But yet I still find my mind spinning with worry and the only way I get out of that place is to stop dead in my foot steps and pray. This week has been one for the books and then out of nowhere I realized the Lord is going to take care us, He is going to work all this out, He's got this....then I hear other people's stories of sick babies, loss of a baby, failing marriage and I think WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I COMPLAINING ABOUT!!! My child is healthy, my husband is healthy, we both have jobs, food on the table, a roof over our head, loving family, and so many other things to be thankful for.....

Here's the even bigger problem I have with "WORRY"....I have heard it said many times that 90% of the things we worry about never come to be. The BIG solution?, Why in the world would I ever believe that the Lord is going to leave us...He hasn't yet, He has always been there and always provided!!!

NEED PROOF:

• 11 weeks pregnant, working in Washington DC, wake up in the middle of the night bleeding, think I am having a miscarriage, take a cab at 2am to the ER, crying, scared, alone and have no idea what's going on, did I do something wrong?, just praying for my baby to be ok....an ultrasound of a loud, healthy heartbeat,....worries calmed, prayers answered!
• The birth of Claire, My job required I traveled a lot...must find a new job, worried, prayed!! I was determined to breastfeed my child and be there for all the simple things in life, but finding a job at the height of a recession was a task....maternity leave came to an end and I had to go back to my old job, the travel the first week was to Little Rock, so I took Claire with me since my family lives there...that Friday I got a job offer!!!....prayer answered!
• The job offer required we move to South Arkansas, given that we are a dual income family, guess what the next worry was about???....finding my husband a good job in small town USA...another challenge, another worry....several weeks later...another job offer!!!...prayer answered!
• Put the NWA house up for sale, find a place to live in our new town,...again all at the height of the recession...after 6 weeks of commuting an hour everyday each way, we found a new home, 2 new jobs,....prayers answered!
• After about 6 months we realized Nick's job (talk about stress)was not the best fit for him and it was in every one's best interest if he explore other job opportunities.....so we find ourselves with 2 mortgages and 1 income....hmmm, not sure how this is going to work....but God did....our labs decided they needed to have some puppies and the Lord provided buyers for each of the pups at top dollar, thank you for champion bloodline Labs...prayers answered!
• The road for Nick finding a new job was a little longer than anticipated...then one day out of nowhere a neighbor we have only met once, saw us outside and stopped by, he invited us to dinner that evening, after much conversation, he knew the perfect job for Nick... the next week Nick got a job in the perfect place, building custom cabinets!!....the Lord put our neighbor in our way that day, which lead to a new, great job...prayers answered!
• Keep in mind this entire time we still have our house for sale in NWA....lowered price many times, changed realtor, then decided to do for sale by owner....I have hesitated to share the news because I am not one that likes to "put the cart before the horse" but we prayed and prayed to receive an offer on the house and we did but it was lower than we could possibly accept...God does have a sense of humor sometimes...so the prayer was revised...please let us have an offer on the our house before Easter...here it comes, an offer we could accept on March 31...only days before Easter...an offer we did accept!!!!....prayers answered!!
• Now here we are, this week, trying to close on the sell of the house and the appraisal does not come back for the amount we have under contract...what to do?? It's been on the market 16 months, we were already taking a nice loss on the price and now what do we do, take a much bigger, double loss than we thought we were....Monday, the day the news came was a bad, bad day...the day I awarded myself the "worst Mommy award"....then we decided to move forward with the sell, take our losses and move on....then Tuesday the buyers tell us they don't have the money for the additional closing cost (we were already covering a portion) because there plan was to roll it into the equity of the home....more money, really???.....guess what?? we add to the loss again.............then the nice appraiser said repairs need to be made to our back deck, saying it does not meet code?? Really??? it passed inspection when we bought the house 5 years ago....and the deck must be repaired prior to closing!....more money....so today as I write we are waiting on someone to repair a deck that is not broken (according to the man that built our house...yes, I gave him a call),....and make sure it meets the lenders standards, in order for us to close....I am so tried from worrying about this house, I am so ready to move on,.........I am so ready to simply BE STILL in our LORD!!! So, please say a pray for this simple thing to be resolved, for this thing that seems so small but is the new hurdle....

Please let me say it again, I know I am blessed, I know that in the grand scheme of things these are not problems, I know I just need to be grateful for all the Lord has provided and I promise I am!!! I praise the Lord for all the answered prayers and for calming my anxious heart!!

I remind myself often of what I heard one of my friends say about worries or problems..."If money can fix it, then its truly not a problem." Think about it....I think its very true.

The Lord wants us to be happy and cast all our worries on Him. WOW!!! Who would want to carry all the worries of the world!!! So, I guess God's message is pretty simple when it comes to worrying....DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY!