The Only True Antidote to Worry

by Lois Flowers February 24, 2015

I wake up suddenly to find my daughter’s little face peering at me from just beyond the mattress. She’s had a bad dream and needs some comfort.

In her dream, she says, her bike was across the street by the neighbor’s house, and her father was working in the garage, presumably with the door wide open.

moonlit river what if

Her words confuse me because I’ve just been roused from a deep sleep. What on earth is scary about this scene from her dream?

“What if someone steals the bike?” she whispers in my ear.

That was it.

The “scary” part of her dream was her fear that someone might steal her bike, even though that was highly unlikely.

OK, now I’m wide awake. …

To continue reading, please click here for the rest of my guest post at Deeper Waters: Where Healing Words Meet Kindred Souls. Among other encouraging resources, this beautiful website features a thought-provoking blog written by women in various seasons of life.

• • • • •

Several months ago, when Deeper Waters accepted my story about Molly’s bad dream, I had no idea when it might be published. I figured it would run when it was supposed to, though, so just I went on with life and didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. (I don’t know much about this blogging business, but I do know that my efforts work best when I pray for God’s direction, go with my gut and move on to the next thing.)

I still didn’t have an actual publication date when I posted “One Way to Change Your Default Worry Setting” here a few weeks ago. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that my guest post—also about worry—appeared at Deeper Waters this past weekend, on the very day when “Thy will be done” once again was the continual cry of my heart.

If you took piano lessons as a child like I did, you might remember those pieces called “Variations on a Theme” that include a main melody followed by several different versions of the same tune. I didn’t plan for half of February’s blog posts to follow this pattern (with the main theme being worry), but I can’t help but think it happened that way for a reason.

God knows what we need, when we need it. If you’ve been struggling with worry this month, I hope these posts have been helpful.