With the passing of my parents and others dear to me in the last couple of years my mind has turned to the subject of worry.
Just prior to her passing my mom worried greatly about family heirlooms.
My father worried about his bills. Another dear friend worried about family conflicts just before passing. In all cases those worries disappeared when all three went home to Jesus.

Why worry?

Things will never be as bad as you can imagine, but God’s goodness is always greater!

I believe Phil 4:6-7 is achievable!

Setbacks are due to:
Expectations ( The apostle Paul expected God to provide food and clothing and therein be content 1 Tim 6:8)
Control. (Perfectionism is attention to detail gone too far. OCD is perfectionism gone to far. Both are manifestations of the ILLUSION of control. God is in control, we follow. God is master, we are servants. 1 Tim 6:15

Psalm 34
This is the ‘antidote to worry’ psalm
God does what for us?
Deliverance. Verses 4,15,19
Saves. 6,17
Encamps & rescues. 7
God is good. 8
Removes want. 9,10
Grants long life. 12-14
Remains near 18
Redeems with no condemnation 22

The last verse is profound because it deals with our souls in eternity while all previous verses concerned present troubles. Also, this psalm was written by David at arguably one of his lowest points. (1 Sam 21:10-15). He fled from Saul to the Philistine king Ashish (Abimelech is the official title) who thought David could be an Israeli spy. So David feigned madness to circumvent any trouble. David showed zero faith in God at that time in his life and yet this inspired song reveals God still had faith in David. God still looked after David even when David turned away.

What is our responsibility?

Bless the Lord (brag about Him) 1-3
Seek the Lord 4
(As often as the worry surfaces is how often we reach out to God in prayer)
Fear the Lord. 7,9
Take refuge. 8,22. (David wrongly took refuge in a city-state nearby, but also an enemy of God’s people. Worry causes very poor decision-making.)
Speak no evil or lies. 13. (David was in the midst of the second biggest deception of his life)
Do not practice evil. 13. (David was acting more foolishly that at any time in his life)
Pursue peace. 14. (If only Saul would have pursued peace instead of his loyal friend David)

Saul’s irrational fear of David divided a kingdom!

Many therapists encourage rape victims to press charges and testify in court. Even though it is extremely difficult and the jury may come back with a verdict of ‘not guilty’ the victim has no regrets. Because the victim faces the monster and calls it for what it is. In so doing the power of fear lessons greatly.

Get a journal and name your fears, even describe how those fears have materialized. Then write what you consider to be the worst case scenario, and then take it to God in prayer with your Bible open to psalm 34.