Worry and fear vs. trust in God

When it comes to my daily struggles, worrying is definitely number one. It doesn't matter how small and insignificant something is, I always find a way to worry about it. This worrying leads to stress, and we all know the effects stress can have on you. I know that I've already written about worry, but it is such a reoccurring problem for me. I know that I am not the only one who struggles with this. 

Let's just face it: worrying is rooted in fear. Without fear, there is no need to worry. I fear getting a bad grade on a test, so I worry about how that test is going to go. I fear someday getting cancer, so I worry about how my lifestyle may affect my health. I fear someone close to me dying, so I worry when I get a phone call late at night. These are just examples of how fear leads to worry and anxiety. 

Being in college, the source of much of my stress and anxiety comes from grades. I am a perfectionist, so getting a bad grade on a test greatly affects my mood and my emotions. I once got a 43 on a hard math test in college, and all I could do was return to my room, weeping uncontrollable, and call my mom telling her that I wasn't cut out to be a math major anymore. Believe it or not, though, I almost squeaked out an A in that class. My overreaction was for nothing. 

Yes, I understand that worrying can lead to more motivation. If I am really worried about something, I might try everything I can to prevent my fears from coming to life. When it comes to grades and tests, worrying can cause you to study more. However, we shouldn't just study hard because we are afraid of getting a bad grade. We should study hard because we want to do our very best and achieve the highest grade that we as individuals are capable of. 

I already established that worrying stems from fear. But fear comes from not trusting in God. Think about it. There is nothing to fear when you have full trust in Him! When you understand that He has our lives completely mapped out and that nothing we do will disrupt His plan, we have no reason to fear. Yet we still do! Why is fear such a problem for us? I have to be honest, I still don't have an answer to that question. I know that fear (and I'm not talking about the fear of God here... that is different) is stupid and irrational, so why do I still allow it to control my life? 

The bottom line is that instead of letting fear control us, we should instead resolve to do our absolute best in everything. If we put forth our best effort, God is not going to leave in the dark. He will get us through. When it comes to grades, we may not get an A in that hard class, but if we try our best, we will not go unrewarded. God knows that we are not perfect. We just need to accept this fact for ourselves. Not all of us are going to be super smart in academics or excellent musicians or physically gifted. Just because we may not be good at math or science doesn't mean that we should accept that we are going to get a D in the class. We should strive to do the best job that we can! 

I know that I haven't written an entry in a long time, and my thoughts may seem very scattered. I just got to thinking about this this week (I have a hard upper level math test on Friday). Instead of really studying for the test, I've just been worrying about it and anticipating a bad grade. That is stupid! I need to just buckle down, study the material, and go in with a positive attitude. God takes care of His own, so we have nothing to fear!