月別アーカイブ: 2016年6月

For it is written in Bible in chapter 2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. So what can we do in one day, or should I say, how do I want Jesus to judge me for this day or a thousand years. I like to think that most people would like Jesus to judge them to be blameless and righteous in his sight. We can achieve this by living a Holy life before him. It says in Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Being Holy is what Jesus wants us to achieve. It says in 1Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set you hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Jesus says to love one another. It says in 1John 3:11 This message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. Yes, there are rules for Holy living. It says in Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

Furthermore, it says at verse 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self. Which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. So I would like to ask this question again. What can I do in one day or a thousand years? I can be Holy in Jesus sight which is a thousand years and only one day in my life. So with that in mind, just think of how so many years we can live Holy in Jesus sight and how please Jesus will be.

Only somebody who has lived with anxiety – as either a sufferer or a carer – knows how devastating it can be. The affect can be seen and felt across every aspect of your life for years and years.

So how does anxiety make you withdraw from life?

Basically, people with anxiety live their lives defensively, at a level where they are merely ‘coping’ instead of ‘embracing’. They are life’s ‘passengers’, passive in their emotional and physical relationship with the world around them – rather than ‘activists’ who engage with their surroundings and interact with people.

Now I want to share something with you that will probably – hopefully! – shock you.

Have you ever sat down with pen and paper and worked out how much time you spend feeling anxious every day of your life? An hour? Two? Four? Ten?!

If you spend even a single hour a day in anxious mode, that equates to 30 hours a month – that’s two ‘waking’ days every month where you could be playing with the kids, training for a marathon run, taking up a hobby, visiting old friends? LIVING your life. Instead, you’re wasting that valuable time on your anxiety.

At it’s worst, I know my anxiety had reached the point where it took over 90% of my waking thoughts. It left me totally exhausted.

Looking back, I now know that by allowing this anxiety to have such a huge stake in my life took real commitment on my behalf!

So, I took control and by doing so, I was rewarded with all this extra time? and all this additional energy with which to fill the hours in a positive way! What a bonus!

I cannot tell you the sense of relief and liberation this sparked in me. And the most wonderful thing is, just as anxiety is a downward spiral that sees you withdraw from life, so this liberation is an uplifting cycle which grows and grows. Once you begin, you can’t contain it!

I know that if I hadn’t taken control and eliminated my anxiety for good, I’d still be on that downward spiral? getting ever more sucked into the anxiety abyss where your every waking moment is dominated by fear.