Family Time…Dealing with anxiety and worry
Moms worry, don’t we? I think it just comes with the “Mom” job somehow. We get our kids ready for school or an event and drop them off…and worry. How is it going for them? Are they being accepted? Will I be able to hear joyful stories or will it be painful tears today? What type of counseling will I need to provide today? And the list goes on and on…and God knows our nature. He designed us. He placed us in charge of caring for the next generation and He knows we take it seriously. He also reminds us in scripture that He takes it seriously too. The focus in the family devotional this month is still on God’s guidance and care for you and this week looks at dealing with anxiety and worry. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus tells you that if you are weary and want rest to take His yoke, it is light and easy…He says to learn from Him, He is gentle and humble and you will find rest for your soul. It does sound nice! But how do you do this in a practical way? When you are upset and worrying, turn to Jesus and pray. Tell Him what is going on in your world that is causing the worry. Ask and He will help you respond to your kids with wisdom and guidance.
During my son’s younger days, he was a worrier. Do you have one of these? He really caught a lot of negative details in conversations with other kids, and then would dwell on them, and worry about them. It created a lot of anxiety for him. As a Mom, it made me worry even more! So now, we were both worrying! I spent many extra hours with him talking through conversations or events as he processed them out loud, then we would make a list of the main problem or worries, and pray through the list. Turning the problems over to God really did bring peace. We both knew that God was working on the concerns, and that God was allowing the situation to happen, and helping my son in the process. Trusting God eventually is what got him through the troubling situations, but sometimes it wasn’t easy.
This week in your family time, I would encourage you to prepare by praying for your family and asking God to show you how each person handles anxiety or worry. Everyone worries at some point, but the important question is…how is it handled? Teach your family to handle anxiety and worry in a godly way by taking it to Him. Encourage your family to use the family time to discuss what they worry about and how they handle it. Do they think they handle it right? Is there anything that they would change? Talk through negative ways to handle anxiety, what are they, and what is wrong with handling anxiety that way? Encourage your family to share the healthy ways they have handled anxiety and why they think it was successful?
Do you need help or prayer for your family time? Email me at SkyMoms@skyranch.org.
I will be praying for you!
Stacy
Stacy A. Davis
Teach Intentionally
This week we are in the 8th Month Topic and 5th Family Time (or page 73) of the Sky Ranch Devotional “Open Your Eyes”…
Family Time 5:
Month 8 Topic: God is my Heavenly Father Who guides and cares for me…Dealing with anxiety/worry
Talk with God: Read…1 Pet 5:7
~ 1 Pet 5:7 Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.
- In 1 Pet 5:7, God tells us to give Him our worries. Why?
Walk with God: Discuss… Do you worry or have anxious feelings? How do you typically handle your worry/anxiety for school, work, finances, friends, etc? What are we supposed to do in these situations? Why are we to totally cast all anxiety on Him?
Prayer suggestion… Pray that you will cast all your worry and anxiety over everything to the Lord.
Family Time 5:
Leader Answers:
- Because He cares for you
- Discussion ideas: Most people typically don’t think to turn to God first to deal with their anxiety or worry. Where do people typically turn? Other people, or they try to avoid thinking about it by using distractions: TV, shopping, eating, alcohol, etc. But God says cast these anxieties on Him. How do you do that? Pray. Give it all to Him. Ask Him to help you. Then, after prayer, it is okay to seek wise counsel from people. God can send people to help us. Just ask Him about it first.
© 2011 Tori Miller and Stacy A. Davis, Inc. All rights reserved.
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