Overcoming Anxiety & DepressionSample

Circumstances Don’t Control Me

John 14:1 NKJV - "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."

As encouraging as this verse is, it is still challenging. It seems to indicate that I have a choice, but I didn’t choose, on purpose, to be under anxiety or depression. How can I get free when I have wanted freedom for so long, and so much of life is outside of my control? If we are trying to control what we can’t, we are frustrated, but if we don’t know what we can control, we become a victim of what we could change.

In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us that those who hear the Word and apply it are like someone who builds their house on a rock. Those who don’t put the Word into practice are like those who build on the sand. Then a storm comes to both. The house on the rock stands, and the house on the sand falls apart. Those who did it right still faced the same storm, but the storm didn’t affect them the same way as it did the others. If you have ever been camping in bad weather, it affects you very differently than when you are at home. When camping, the rain and wind that don’t bother you at home are a big deal.

In life, we can’t control all the storms; we can’t opt out of all difficult times, but where we build and how we build can determine how the storms affect us. I wish I could promise you a storm-free life, but that isn’t a promise in the Word. It does say the one with their house on the rock stood strong. It does promise that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. It does say that we can be overcomers and that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. It does say we have the God of peace, and Jesus said He gives us His peace. It does list joy and peace as fruits of the Spirit. It does tell us not to let our hearts be troubled. While storms may come, we can have hearts that stand strong and aren’t destroyed, anxious, or depressed by the storms.