During this time in my life, worry and anxiety have been prevalent in not only myself, but also in my peers. My first semester at college was the darkest time of my life by far. I never felt more isolated and lonely. From my family, from my friends, from my God, from my life that is abundant in color most of the time. Your first semester of college should be exciting, exhilarating, joyful, fun, and any other positive adjective that you can think of. Yet we are becoming so consumed with what we are not doing well, what we are not doing enough of. So, why do we let something so temporary drain us of our joy?
God created man to fulfill His eternal plan, to serve Him well, to tell others about His love for us, to love unconditionally, to make the world as good as we can without being perfect. God created trees and plants so that we can breathe, to make the Earth beautiful, to provide resources and shelter for humans. God created animals, day, night, land, water, the sun, the moon, us, all for a purpose. Here's my question: where in the bible did God create school? Here's my answer: He didn't.
School is a great opportunity that I have been given, and I am so thankful to be able to learn important things about the world and how things work. That is a gift that God has given man the ability to do. But when we let school consume us, it becomes a problem. God did not put school on the Earth. He did not intend for us to be involved in something that makes us stressed and increases our anxiety levels. I enrolled as a Biology major, because I had to be a doctor, because I thought I had to make money, because I wanted to be successful. Looking back, I cannot believe that I ever wanted things so materialistic.
What tangible, materialistic things do is steal my joy. Worry steals my joy. Anxiety steals my joy. Depression stole my joy. All of these stupid things took away my joy because of my worry that I wouldn't succeed, that I wouldn't be as good as everyone else, that I wasn't making my parents proud, that my friends were making new friends and I wasn't. School and worrying about school was the thief of my joy. As humans, it's what we do. We worry. We stress. God puts a fire in all of our hearts, making us passionate about something. Worry comes along and puts out the flames. And that is what destroys my heart.
Worrying doesn't put out everyone's light, and different people struggle with different things. Regardless of what steals your joy, Jesus said, "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 important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" Whether you believe in God or not, there is so much truth in this verse. However, I know and trust that God has plans for us beyond what we can measure or imagine. And worry definitely will not put out that flame or take that away from me.
"In His presence there is fullness of joy." Psalm 16:11
