I have a friend who’s in touch with God who says “All truth is God’s truth.”

If that’s true, we would expect to find practical ideas to help us with the common problems of life.

Today, we’re going to look at practical ideas to deal with worry.

Here is one very important point to remember. You can’t expect to overcome worry with practical ideas alone. You must hear the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of Scripture about worry.

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These are the first three of four steps to overcoming worry.

Step One: Trust the Father.

Jesus told us to put our trust in our loving heavenly Father. The Father who provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field will surely care for us. Trust is essential for dealing effectively with worry. You can read my previous post about trust here: http://waylonbailey.com/2014/07/14/a-week-of-worry/

Step Two: Replace Worry with Prayer.

Paul encouraged the believers in Philippi to be anxious in nothing by praying about everything. You can read my previous post about prayer and worry here: http://waylonbailey.com/2014/07/15/swap-your-worry-for-something-better/

Step Three: Write it Down.

Personally, I find writing down my anxieties a practical way to mitigate my worries. Let me give you an example. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with something (or somethings) worrying me. I have two choices. I can let the worry run through my mind over and over, or I can write what’s worrying me and begin doing something about it.

These are the steps which I find important to writing my worries.

First, put it on paper. Don’t just think about your worry–write it down.

Second, write why you are anxious. There’s always a “why” to anxiety, but sometimes the reason is completely irrational. Writing down the reason will either help expose the irrational nature of why you’re worrying or help you find actions to deal with the problem.

Third, do something. Worry is over thinking–usually irrational thinking–and not doing. Once you’ve written down the problem with its reason, begin to formulate an action plan to resolve the worry. Don’t think (worry)–do!

You can’t resolve anything without action. If the problem is a relationship, you will have to do the hard work necessary to overcome the issue. Tomorrow, we will look at worry and relationships.

Worry is universal. It’s hard to overcome, but it’s not beyond help.

Follow God’s plan and you will see help in defeating your worries.