Give God Your Worries – and Your Gratitude

Happiness and thanksgiving are adversely affected by anxiety and worry. Researchers have noted that excessive levels of anxiety and worry negatively impact our physical and mental health. Before the Industrial Revolution and the production of safe food and modern medicine, a major worry was staying alive one day at a time.

The make-up of personal worries varies, but even minor concerns can diminish happiness and the willingness to be thankful. For instance, our drinking water is as safe as any nation’s, yet one of the best-selling products in stores is filtered bottled water. It feels safer drinking water from a bottle than from a faucet.

When worry prompts you to change what is unhealthy, destructive or bad, then worry is appropriate; however, when it robs you of peace of mind and the inability to be thankful, including feelings of joy, then reassessing your faith in God is in order. Strong, godly faith diminishes worry and restores your trust that God will give you peace and joy.  

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Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful.

~Colossians 3:15 Contemporary English Version

Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.

~1 Peter 5:7 The Living Bible

Giving Thanks Gives Joy

Your personal happiness is definitely affected by what is perceived as being capable of stealing away your confidence. Rarely does a day go by without challenges to your peace and joy, but thank God, these challenges can be sidestepped. Your happiness and the capacity for thanksgiving are distinctly bound up together.

C. S. Lewis explains, "It’s possible to give thanks in everything: if it’s good, simply because it’s good; if it’s bad, because it works in us to produce patience, humility and hope." Giving thanks for what is good is easy, but the real challenge comes in trying to utter words of thanksgiving for unpleasant and painful experiences.

Listen to the Apostle Paul’s words of encouragement for facing difficult times. "Be joyful always; pray continually; and give thanks in all situations, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." A sense of joy can parallel difficult times as you rest assured that God’s intention is for good to spring forth in all you experience.  

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We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks for the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light.

~Colossians 1:9, 11-12 Good News Bible