Lord, Calm My Fear About the Future.

A reader wrote in last month (hey Veronica 👋) and gently pointed something out. She had noticed I referred to "my anxiety" in a devotional, and she wanted to share something she had recently learned.

When we "own" anxiety or depression, we give it more power over us. She had started saying "the anxiety" instead of "my anxiety," and she found it was helping her see these things for what they are: conditions she experiences, not parts of who she is.

She wrote: "They are not part of me, and therefore they do not have control over me."

I appreciated her for saying it. It seemed like a small distinction at first, but the more I sat with it, the more I understood. The language we use matters more than we think.

And she is not alone. Anxiety is at epidemic levels right now. More isolation, more uncertainty, more pressure from every direction - the world has never felt louder or more overwhelming than it does for so many people today.

Doctors are seeing it. Pastors are seeing it. Families are seeing it. If you are struggling with anxiety, you are not weak, and you are not unusual. You are living in a hard time.

You do not have to identify every single thing underneath it before you can pray. You do not need it all figured out before you come to God.

The prayer "Lord, calm my fear about the future" is enough. It is honest. It names what is actually happening. And it does something else too - it stops the back-and-forth for a moment. Instead of forces pulling you apart, you choose a direction. Toward Him.

"Therefore don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day's own evil is sufficient." Matthew 6:34

So, as you go into today, remember that the anxiety was never yours to begin with. You do not have to own it, carry it, or be defined by it.

What is yours is this truth: You belong to God. And nothing the future holds can change that.