10 Ways to Stop Worrying and Find the Peace You Long For

The world stopped but my brain didn't.

In fact, it spun into overdrive.

Yours probably did the same.

It was April 2020 and my weary grey matter had morphed into a festering petri dish of viral worries immune to the strongest Clorox wipe. The relentless firing of synapses swirled frightening unknowns before my eyes - were our kids safe locked down at college? Would my Dad and father in law in England, both high risk, make it through? What on God's green earth was hap-en-innnnggggg? 

Despite my stiff and perfectly waxed upper lip holding firm and a trust in God that's grown through some pretty dark days, my heart refused to settle.

Peace eluded me.

Now the world's opened up you'd think some semblance of peace would have returned right alongside our trips to Starbucks but, if you're anything like me, your brain's found new worries to feed on.

Like a ravenous beast it seems to hunt my every question and concern to chew on and devour. 

The Last Thing We Need

The last thing we need when our brains are churning and refuse to shut down is to be told not to worry.

It's like telling a child burning with a fever not to.

So if you're worried about your health, your fragile relationship with your teen, or the constant tension in your marriage, I'm not going to throw a platitude like Don't worry, God's got this, at you. 

However true it might be, throwing this at us when we're worried sick is unhelpful and often hurtful.

Worry isn't something we can turn off like a light bulb.

So what do we do?

I've returned to practices I discovered during the pandemic.

They helped calm my out of control mind, refocus my thoughts, and showed me how to keep going when everything in me wanted to stop.

There are a few extras I've discovered since then thrown in.

I wish I could tell you this is a fail-safe, ten step formula, guaranteed to banish worry forever, but I can't. But what I can do is encourage those of us prone to worry that these shift us away from the ravenous beast and into the arms of the one whose peace we long for.

And for that these practices will always be part of my weaponry against worry.

10 Ways to Stop Worrying and Find the Peace You Long For

1. REJOICE: 

Counter intuitive I know, but delighting in God when life is far from delightful refocuses our hearts and minds from us to him and reminds us of his loving grace.

2. REST: 

Stop for a second and be still. Breathe in his goodness and love. Exhale the worry. If we want to breathe again we must breathe in the One who is the very breathe of life. It's here we find his peace. 

3. REMEMBER: 

Worry wipes our memory of the things we know. It laser focuses our hearts on what we don't. Remembering how much God loves us, is with us, hasn't left, and isn't mad, resets our minds to what is good, true and lasting, and away from what isn't. 

4. RELAX

I'm not telling you to Chill out dude!  As if that will solve your worries. But the simply act of releasing tension from our bodies, lowering our shoulders from where we've been wearing them as earrings, or unclenching the vice-like grip we've got on the steering wheel, helps our muscles lead our brains into a calmer place we might not be able to go without a guide.

Covid didn't take God by surprise and nor did what you're going through. He knows, he cares.

5. RELATE

We're rarely the only ones worried about someone of something and reaching out and offering a small word of encouragement, an act of kindness, or a thoughtful text, not only brings joy to their world but is a gift to ourselves we didn't know we needed.

6. REFLECT

Taking a moment to reflect on God's faithfulness in the past helps us step into our future with a renewed strength and optimism. One that comes from the confidence of knowing He's been faithful before and will be faithful again, no matter what.

7. RETURN

There's a short little cut through trail on the street behind our house that takes you down a narrow path to the greenway. It's not the mountains or the wide open vistas I crave yet every time I return to this well worn short cut, its canopy of overgrown branches outstretched in welcome, something within me returns to a sense of calm I can't find up the hill in my neighborhood. 

Returning to a physical place where you've found rest in the past - the chair on your back porch, your car for five minutes before you turn the key in your front door, or on your favorite walk around the block - returns us to rest in the present.

Where's that place for you?

8. REQUEST

 Paul encourages us to tell God what we need, presenting our requests to him (Phil 4:6). We have a God who wants to hear from us.

A God who listens to our hurts, worries, fears and needs.

A God who wants to act for us.

When we pour it all out to God we can rest assured he's heard. 

9. RECEIVE

How often have a prayed for peace and the spinning wheels of my brain to stop for just a second, then carried on running around like a headless chicken?

Too many.

Jesus gave us and left us his peace (John 14:7) yet we often don't take time to unwrap and receive it. 

How could you take a moment today to do that today?

10. REPEAT

Like I said, unfortunately this isn't a one and done deal.

Rinse and repeat is my motto. Whenever my chest begins to tighten or I find myself wakefully exhausted at 3am, these familiar signposts to my yet unseen worry remind me to repeat these practices.

Rinse, repeat, rest.

Rinse, repeat, rest.

*************

If you're worried and struggling to trust God I made something for you. Yes, try these 10 practices but then grab yourself a copy of my FREE book How to Trust God When You Can't Stop Worrying

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Phil 4:6 (NIV)