Doubt Diet Day 4: Sometimes Worry Makes You Wonder

• A Confident Heart Chapter 1: Are you ready to take God’s hand and trust His heart?
• Day 1: Don’t Throw Away Your Confidence
• Day 2: Beat Up or Built Up
• Day 3: Trigger Points

 Day 4: Sometimes Worry Makes Me Wonder
Taken in part from Chapter 9 of A Confident Heart
Food for thought: She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10:40 NIV)

I don’t know about you but I always have plenty of things to worry about. Like Renee mentions in today’s devotion when I get worryed and overwhelmed I feel like God is not listening. The past 4 years I have struggled a lot – wondering if God heard my prayers. At times, I questioned his love for me and I felt like I couldn’t trust Him. I worried, I wondered, and for a season I got mad at God. I’ve included a part of my story below as a testimony of Gods faithfulness.

In January 2007 my 3 year old daughter was diagnosed with type I diabetes. Morgan was barely 3 and Caleb was only 5 months old. This brought on a new level of worry. For example, Morgan’s blood sugar, checking her blood, counting the carbs in her food properly, shots and so much more. We we afraid for Caleb, so we’d check his blood sugar periodically.

A couple of months later in April my daddy was diagnosed with Brain Cancer. A very aggressive cancer that grows like an octopus into your brain. No cure, terminal, the only hope of extending his life would have been surgery. Daddy’s tumor was inoperable. He was given less than 2 months, God gave us 10 months.

We also had 3 houses during this time. One that we lived in and two spec houses that sat for 2 years before they sold. For two years we had 3 mortgages.

My daddy passed away in February. Then, the day after his funeral my husband lost his job. The company he worked for had a merger and shut down his entire division.

At this point, I really questioned God. The day after my dad’s funeral Gary loses his job, and we have 3 houses? I didn’t feel like God was listening. In fact, I felt like he had turned his back on me for a time. I didn’t understand why he had allowed so much?

It didn’t happen overnight but slowly God has put me back together. It’s been a process that I have had to walk through. I had to completley surrender every part of my life to Him. Had I not, I shudder to think where my wondering may have lead me. I don’t know where I heard this, but it’s stuck with me. When I feel overwhelmed about the future, it’s because God hasn’t given me the grace to face that day yet. I look back at what God has brought me through and I know he carried me. God gives us the measure of grace when we need it, but not a moment too soon. 

On Day 4, Renee shares a season in her life that left her feeling overwhelmed, fearful, out of fuel, full of worry, and doubt that God even cared. She said she secretly felt that if she stopped worrying about everybody and everything God would too. She was over-committed and had become weary serving God instead of seeking God. Then one day as she was reading about Martha and Mary in her bible from the book of Luke she realized that Martha had become weary in all of her worrying and began to doubt that God cared for her.

A message from Renee
Excerpt The 7-day Doubt Diet Day 4: Sometimes Worry makes you Wonder

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6–7 NLT)
First Peter 5:7 tells us: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (NLT).

When life weighs us down this week, let’s commit to:

1. Stop worrying—Press the pause button on our consuming concerns.
2. Start praying—Talk to God about all we’re doing and ask Him if there’s anything we need to cut back so we have time to seek Him as much as we serve Him and others.
3. Keep thanking God—Thank God for what He’s done in the past and will do in the future. This helps us remember how good He is at being God.

Doubt Diet Tip: Lose the weight of worry by “giving all your worries and cares to the Lord because He cares for you!” Write your concerns on an index card and give them to Jesus. I have a tabletop cross by my bedside where I lay my “concerns card.” Maybe you could get one too. Then, when you start worrying, go back and write your worries on your card, and commit once again to cast your cares upon the Lord.

Download More Peace-Giving Promises
The 7-day Doubt Diet is a free devotional Companion to A Confident Heart by Renee Swope.

Now, I’m all grown up and you know what, I hate sports. I haven’t thought about those situations in years. I don’t have to they are engrained in me as truth now.

Like Renee, my insecurities and fears have kept me from trying things. You want me to go hiking, no thanks. A climbing wall – fantastic everyone below can laugh at me while I’m suspended in midair with nothing but ropes and my long legs tangled in the rope. When my kids ask my to play basketball or softball – I start to panic inside. No!! I don’t want to. I don’t want them to see how bad I am. My husband played golf in college. (Yes, I married an athlete – good in every sport) He would love if we golfed together. In December we’ll celebrate our 15th anniversary and guess what, my doubts have convinced me not to try.

In Chapter 1 of “A Confident Heart,” Renee shares what God revealed to her after he spoke to her about her “shadow of doubt”. She said, ” As I stood there in my bathroom, I knew I needed to get honest with God too. I needed more than just a quick fix. I wanted to figure out what triggered my self-doubts.”

Damaged emotions and insecurities from our past have a powerful influence over how we see ourselves today. Do you see a pattern of doubts or insecurity that is rooted in your past.

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A Message from Renee
Excerpt from The 7-day Doubt Diet: Day 3

Conflict, criticism, and comparison are three triggers that lead me into that yucky place of uncertainty……

When I find myself standing in the shadow of doubt, I ask Jesus to show me what triggered my emotions. Then I process that trigger point through the filter of God’s perspective and promises. I ask Him to show me what lie I believe that needs to be replaced with His truth. I then ask Him to change the way I’m thinking, which changes the way I’m feeling, and eventually transforms the way I’m living.

Over time, I’ve learned to rely on God’s power to defeat my insecurities, which has empowered me to fulfill His calling on my life. And so can you! God calls us to live beyond the shadows our doubts, but it is not always about what He wants us to do as much as it is about what He wants to do in us as we learn to completely depend on Him.

Doubt Diet Tip:In the same way emotional triggers make us want to eat a half-gallon of ice cream or a whole bag of chips, we have emotional triggers that cause us to doubt ourselves. Ask God to show you your most common triggers and help you process them through the filter of His truth.