A few years ago, I came down with advanced adrenal fatigue.  Or should I say… I didn’t so much “come down with it” as much as I ended up with it.  If you’re not familiar with what adrenal fatigue is exactly, it’s basically when your body gets stuck in “fight or flight” mode.  It can happen for a variety of reasons, but they all usually involve immense and/or prolonged stress on the body.

For me, it was a string of back-to-back traumatic events.  My body never caught a break for several years in a row and as a result, got stuck in emergency mode.  There is no magic pill, however, to treat adrenal fatigue.  It is only healed by making lifestyle changes – one of which, is to minimize stress.

And you know what often goes hand-in-hand with stress?

Worry.

Worry was pretty much a daily existence for me (and my mother too, who was also a worry-wart by nature).  I would worry about everything under the sun – work, money, my health, my friends, my family, my dogs, the world.  You name it, I worried about it.

I think it was partly just habit (I didn’t know another way of life really existed) and part wanting to remain in control.  That if I just worried about something enough, maybe I could make it go my way.  Or at least not be surprised when it didn’t.

But the reality was, in the end, all it did was make me feel miserable.  And didn’t actually change the outcome of anything one bit.

Thankfully, over time, God has been working diligently to prune this behavior right out of me.  I’m sure I will never be 100% worry-free (but thankfully, I don’t have to be), but I am MUCH better now than I used to be.

And beyond that, I am now finally starting to look forward to things the way God intended me to – with expectation, not worry.

See, expectation and worry are basically the same thing (or at least first cousins) – they both look forward to things that actually haven’t occurred yet.  But, while worry focuses on all the worse-case scenarios that could happen, expectation focuses on all the amazing things that could happen and the blessings that God may send into your life.

Expectation is about waiting with hope, gratitude and joy.

And the best way to enter into a state of expectation is to exit out of worry.

So, how do you do that?

You put life back into God’s hands, where it belongs.  You remember, that no matter what happens, He is with you.  And you remember that worry, in and of itself, actually does nothing to change a situation.

It’s time to stop wallowing in worry and despair and start living with hope and expectation.  “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV).

We have to learn to intentionally control our own thoughts (with the help of the Holy Spirit) and keep them rooted in truth, power, love and faith.

And, because it is impossible to worry and pray at the same time… we need to remember to always pray.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).