Welcome!

I am so excited that you have decided to make this three month journey through the partly cloudy weather of life's experiences with us! Let me set the stage for our journey by borrowing some thoughts from the Prologue of our book.

Ask yourself this question - do you ever feel like a fog of fear and anxiety is swirling all around you, blocking out the ability to think clearly and trust God? That fog quickly fuels responses like complaining, grumbling, depression, or even making a quick decision that isn't led by God. There comes a certain point when thinking, wondering, being concerned, mulling, or being bothered becomes worry. At that point, we are not trusting the Father with our whole heart.

There is a difference between fear, careful thought, and worry. FEAR can be a legitimate emotion, serving as God's warning signal to do something - quickly. Fear can easily become worry unless we do something constructive with it - like pray. CAREFUL THOUGHT is what our mind does when faced with an uncertain situation or problem. Careful reasoning can easily slide into worry if we don't turn our attention to God, to ask for His input and trust Him. WORRY is when our thoughts are wrapped in a haze of anxiety that discounts God's ability to help us, when we focus on the situation to the point that it takes over our rational and spiritual reasoning.

It's interesting that the word worry carries the idea of choking or strangling, along with torment. Sometimes we turn to God, but we don't release the fear to Him. That's when worry can begin to strangle us, and yes, it can torment us. We continue to try to figure out the situation ourselves and not let our thoughts be centered in trust in God.

Worry and anxiety can truly be killers - both physically and spiritually. So, it's important that we take inventory of our "worry meter." Some people are chronic worriers; some hardly ever worry. Most of us are all over the scale depending on the weather - meaning the particular situation, who is involved, and most importantly, our own emotional and spiritual health.

As we begin this journey, I am asking myself and each one of you to commit to memory our journey verse, Philippians 4:6-7. We will study many other scriptures and individuals in God's Word, but our path to clear, worry-free skies begins with that verse. So learn it and hide it in your heart and mind so it will be there when the fog of worry begins clouding your thoughts.

Let the journey begin!
Blessings,
Debbie