My thoughts run wild in my head, bouncing around at all hours of the day. If there was a class in school called “Overthinking 101” I’d be the star student, let me tell you. I feel as if all I do is overthink…in class, when I’m working on homework, when I’m in the car, when I’m going to sleep.
I. Never. Stop. Thinking.
I’m such a worrier and I believe I’m that way because I feel as if everything needs to be planned out at all times in my life. I hate when things are questionable, I like to know that things are set in stone exactly how they are supposed to be. To be completely honest, it’s not even the major life issues that I overthink about all of the time.
It’s what I’m eating. "How bad is this for me?"
It’s what I say to people. "Did they take it the way I implied for them too?"
It’s my classes. "Am I going to be able to meet the standard that I should?"
It’s my major. "What is it supposed to be?"
It’s with relationships with people. "Could things be better than they are? Am I doing everything right?"
I’ve never admitted to being a perfectionist, but now I'm admitting that I definitely am in some (most) areas of my life. (Thank you college, for amping that up for me.)
When I look in the Bible, I am reminded tons of times to not worry. I mean it does say “Do not fear.” 365 times in the Bible, reminding us not to live anxious one day of our lives. But I wanted to take a look at a few different verses for this article.
Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Luke 12:25-26 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”
Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Every time I read over these verses I tell myself I’m going to stop letting things cloud my thoughts, and then two seconds later I’m thinking again. My problem is that every time I read it I’m not believing it long term. I believe it to be true over what my current situation is, but I’m not declaring it over every situation that is to come. We’re human, we’re going to be in the flesh sometimes and let the enemy slip into our mind and consume our thoughts. But we should be stronger and able to stop him from running in. Today, I’m challenging myself and whoever is reading this to refocus on what the Lord has told us; don’t worry. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be distracted by what the enemy wants you to freak out about, when in all reality 99% of the time there is no reason to let it bother you. The key to living in peace is to have the Lords thoughts in our minds!
-LG
Sheetal Tadiparty
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