Ready or Not...

Are you ready for everything that comes your way? Most people aren’t. No matter if it’s the car breaking down and you don’t have the funds readily available to repair it, or if there is an unexpected death in the family. A life of worry and fear can actually prepare one for almost everything life may throw at you that is unexpected. But, who would really want to live that way?

My motto has been to always hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. That motto involves playing out the scenario of the worst possible events in life to go through my mind. I tend to have a great ability to picture in detail the most tragic events in life. This basically means, I have felt the pain of grief of losing my family in death, the hurt of adultery, and the gruesome vision of the people closest in fatal accidents. I have also felt the fear inside of hearing my doctor diagnose me with a terminal disease, of seeing myself lose control of my car, and feel the loneliness of my husband leaving me. Many people have worries and fears and some take their “visions” to a deeper level than I have and some just barely skim the surface. I believe those who go much deeper than I have must be in great and constant torment. So, has my way of preparing myself for the worst prepared me for the pain I have put myself through in doing so? To even imagine any one traumatic event happening can cause days and months of constant, obsessive worry. When the huge cloud of worry has passed, what good has it done? None at all. Even if the traumatic event did happen, the only comfort would be that I saw it coming. There would be no less pain or grief just because I had envisioned such an event happening. So, in preparing myself, I have only caused myself more hurt and have allowed the great tormentor to control my mind. I wonder how the schizophrenics of this world were when they weren’t yet fully in their disease. Did they start out as thinking they were just preparing themselves for the worst? Did they take it just one level up from the mainstream worries of today? I wonder how many deaths are caused by worry. Worry can affect your body as well as your mind. The worry of what could happen in life may cause some to give up on life altogether before their time.

And, when does a person become obsessed due to their worry and fears? I believe there is a very thin line between the two. A woman can suspect her husband of cheating on her (which would be worry and fear) so she asks him if he has. What about when she starts living with the wild scenarios of the possible adultery? A woman who envisions situations and pictures her husband committing adultery and starts asking (accusing) him daily, checking his cell phone, his credit card bills, his briefcase has now become obsessed and is being tormented daily with the fears that only years before was just a mild worry. There are thousands and thousands of people in the U.S. suffering from such obsessive worries. Most of these people are not diagnosed and are not even seeking help. Not all these people are “the crazies” people picture in their minds as obsessive people.

What about the person who fears that people would look down on them or dislike them for some reason? A woman (or man) could be so afraid of judgment from others that they don’t even leave their house. What is so disturbing about this is the fact that they have merely passed harsh judgments on themselves not even giving the outside world a chance to pass judgment on them! So, who’s in the wrong…themselves or the outside world? Not everyone in the world will have the same view of a person. The person they are hiding from within their home is actually right there with them…it is only themselves.

As we all know worry and fear are not of God, so obviously the whole warped and toxic thinking is of the Devil. How do you fight the Devil? I honestly don’t believe a mere human can fight the Devil all on their own, no matter how strong willed they are. God is the only strength that can win, but it takes a human will to seek Him. Many people tend to take their own will to the fight with the Devil, but they lose. They have left out the most important step (seeking God)…they are only trying to take the “easiest” way out of their situation. Everyone has hopefully learned there is no easy way out.

The mind can be what you allow it to be…it can be healthy or full of fear and worry. There is a choice. Do you seek a relationship or do you seek a one night stand? A one night stand is wanting God to help you out of your mess just for a short time and then leaving His presence only to call for His help again only when you’re in trouble. That is using God for your own selfish needs only on your time. To seek a relationship is a daily, hourly, every second of your life commitment to love and share and take joy in a life-lasting relationship with God. The choice seems so easy, but people fight every day against the Devil and he still manages to grab onto you at times. The main success is the constant walking forward with God. If you let the Devil torment your mind, he will own it. So, the decision as to which way to turn doesn’t seem so hard. How about the new motto: Always be prepared with the weapons God has given you, and always thank God for what He has blessed you with…a sound mind.

On a walk through the wilderness, you may step on a few twigs and may get stung by a couple of bees, but if God is walking beside you He can heal the hurts and pains of the Devil. If you walk alone, you will stop many times to try and nurse your own wounds, yet you will always suffer the pain. So, are you ready...or not to have your mind and body well and free from the torment?