Learn How to Be Free from Worry
By Rev. John W. Adams
Do you believe there is a cure for worry?
On the radio, TV, newspapers, Internet, are advertisements of cures for just about everything. So there must surely be a cure for worry, but it is doubtful you’ll find it even on the Internet. Are you interested in such a cure from someone who used to be one of the biggest worriers in the world?
Years ago, I worried about everything. I called myself the worst worrier in the world. That was until I realized I was one of the best worriers because I did it so well! Thankfully, I learned how to be free from worry. In this article you will learn some things that will help you, too.
Worry can be divided into two kinds:
1. Worry about imaginary or borrowed trouble.
2. Worry about real trouble. A well-known psychiatrist declared that ninety percent is of the second kind. Think of that! Ninety percent of worry is about imaginary or borrowed trouble. Only ten percent is about so-called real trouble.
The Expert Worrier. This true experience of a woman who admitted that at one time she might have been considered an expert worrier. She fairly ran out to meet trouble. This woman was included in the ninety percent of worriers, the kind that worries about imaginary or borrowed troubles. This woman went on like this for quite a time and then came real trouble. The family business folded up, and it took all their surplus cash to settle their obligations. She worried! How could they meet their expenses? How could they keep up the payments on their mortgage? Would they lose the home they both loved? (Sound familiar?) Her husband was having difficulty finding work. They both became very nervous, and on the verge of collapse. Have you ever known of anyone going through an experience such as this? Quite possibly. We all have, and many of us have personally had such an experience or a similar one. Fortunately for this woman, she had begun the study of Truth, so she knew something of the fundamentals about the omnipresence and omnipotence of God. She attended a Truth class about the time when their real troubles began, and it brought courage and new hope to her.
Park troubles outside! “Park your troubles outside,” the leader said. “If you want to pick them up again when you go out — well and good. Just don’t bring them in here.” What wonderful advice! Suppose you had a certain room in your home in which you refused to let any worry whatever enter. Every time you entered that room you would park whatever worries or troubles you thought you had outside the door. It wouldn’t be long until you would be spending most of your time in that room, because if not even the tiniest worry could enter, your happiest time would be spent in that sacred room. “Park your troubles outside. If you want to pick them up again when you go out — well and good. Just don’t bring them in here.”
Worry is a sin! This woman said that often after attending the class, she forgot to pick up her worries and she went home spiritually uplifted. One day the Truth leader electrified her by saying that worry is a real sin because it is caused by lack of faith. Think about that. Isn’t it is good food for thought right here and now? Worry is a sin because it is caused by lack of faith. If God is omnipresent substance, and He is, how can we lack the very small part of that substance we need? If God is eternal life, and He is, how can we lack life and be ill?
One day, this woman said as the class was praying the Lord’s Prayer, the words, “Give us this day our daily bread” took on a new meaning for her. From then on keeping the wolf from the door became a challenge to her, and that was the beginning of her most interesting and exciting adventure in faith. Each morning she told herself that with God all things are possible. She stayed with the thought until she knew it was true. Then she waited expectantly for things to happen. And they did! A man who had owed she and her husband some money for years and who they thought would never pay them paid what he owed, plus interest. She rented a couple of unused rooms, and both she and her husband found temporary work, and finally her husband secured a good-paying full-time job. They found it fun and exciting as they had enough for that day. That saved them many hours of useless worry, for they were never in actual need. A very bad habit After she reached the conclusion that her trouble borrowing, which was very disagreeable to her and equally irritating to her family and friends, was just a very bad habit, and she earnestly set about to overcome it. Soon she found that she worried much less about real trouble than she formerly had done about trouble she borrowed!
Inventory is a good idea! A good idea, now, today, is to take time out from your busy schedule to inventory your troubles. Write them on a sheet. On one side put the troubles that are imaginary or in the past or the future; one the other side list the real troubles. Sometimes in order to determine whether trouble is real or not it must be analyzed somewhat, and once a clear analysis is made, it usually turns out not nearly as real as you once thought, so it too will have to be put on the ninety percent side of the sheet, the side for imaginary or borrowed troubles. By doing some good clear thinking, you’ll probably find that you don’t have half the troubles you thought you had. But what about those sudden troubles which apparently come right out of the blue and seem to have no solution? Can these also be met head on by using faith? There are some troubles that do seem very real, but how large they become and how much they affect you depends upon you. Faith is a wonderful and effective help in meeting them.
Another true experience Another woman’s true experience proves this. She was healthy, happy, and apparently financially secure with a good job that paid well. However, suddenly the company for which she worked decided to install a new computerized machine in to do her work, and she was dismissed. At the time, she was helping two sisters through college, and so she had little money saved. Also, at that time, many people were unemployed, and she was past the age when it was easy to find new employment. At first, she was panic-stricken as she thought of all the disastrous things that might happen to her. An old heart condition that she had believed was cured came back, and she became desperately ill. The people who also lived in the house, were vacationing, and she was alone. She felt that she was passing on, and she was too weak to get to the phone to summon help. In desperation she cried out to God for help, and the thought came to her that this was a golden opportunity to use the Truth she had been storing up in her consciousness for many years.
Instant Healing! From this storehouse of Truth came these words from the so-called “Prayer of Saint Patrick”: “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height.”
Suddenly she felt that she was enveloped in Christ life, immersed in a sea of it. She felt it coursing through her veins, beating in her heart, thrilling in every cell. She felt every organ and every cell coordinating perfectly, operating in rhythm and harmony; and she was instantly healed. Going to her desk, she took paper and pencil and wrote down some words that came to her by direct inspiration.
This is what she wrote: “I acknowledge the gift of life-eternal. I acknowledge the blessing of having to live only one moment at a time. I know that I have light enough for the next step, which is all I can take at any moment.” During the next few days this woman used these words constantly and in less than a week she was directed to a new company where she had a much better position and would received a larger salary than she received from her former employer.
Four effective ways to cure worry. Today many and varied problems are troubling many people. Some people cannot find homes while some are losing their homes and forced to live with relatives and friends, or even on the street. Family relations become strained. There are many difficulties in life, such as relationships, national and world problems
How can you meet these problems without worrying?
1. Do not run out to meet them and so become a trouble borrower.
2. Utilize all your energy in taking care of today’s problems and not waste it in useless worry.
3. If a serious problem does overtake you, know that God will give you light enough moment by moment for the next step, which is all the light you need.
4. Turn *The Golden Key: Turn away from the problem and turn to God. Above all, hold firm the conviction that with God’s help the impossible becomes possible. It is true: With God ALL things are possible!
*Ask, and we will send to you a copy of The Golden Key, by Emmet Fox, and also Rev. John’s Golden Keyer’s Guide to Peace of mind, Health, Wealth and Happiness. These are printed items, so we’ll need your physical mailing address along with your name.