Worry or Pray?
by Don R. Richards
I am generally a pretty sound sleeper.
Going to sleep has net been a major problems for me over the years. When my head hits the pillow, it usually is not too long before I am asleep.
There are those who know me too well who will also tell you I do not always need a pillow in order to get to sleep pretty fast.
This does not mean I always get all the sleep I want or start out to get.
Suddenly, many times in the middle of the night, or especially early in the morning I wake up with a pressing problem occurring my mind. I wake up quickly worrying about a nagging matter at home or work that I cannot get off my mind.
No matter how many ways I lie or turn over, I cannot seem to get my mind clear to enable me to get back to sleep that I so long for to be fully rested.
It seems I keep repeating the problem over and over in my mind searching for an elusive answer and worrying how to solve it. Many times the answer for me has been to go ahead and get up to try to get the matter off my mind.
Others tell me they face similar problems maybe not in the early mornings, but, some people face this same problem in trying to get to sleep the night before. Constant worrying, usually about a problem that we actually have little control over.
There may be no answer to the missing sleep or waking up, but there is a better way to address our problems. The better way is to ask for help from someone who can solve the problem.
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thess. 5:16-18.
Instead of getting angry or frustrated at a nagging problem in your mind and your inability to solve it, simply view the situation as a time to pray. Do not just lie there and get yourself depressed. Use this situations as a reminder to yourself to pray and thank God for any good He can help bring out of this event, no matter how distasteful or unpleasant the matter might be otherwise
I can look at a situation and all I can see is the pain or discomfort that is in it for me or my family, friends or work colleagues. God has a way of changing those things, usually through one of us involved in the problems.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Phil.2:13.
The next time you wake up or cannot get to sleep because you face a crisis with a pleasant answer, let that circumstance serve as a reminder to pray. Instead of lying in bed tossing and turning over the problem, take that time as the opportunity to discuss with God your problem, and give Him thanks for any good He can get out of it or turn it in to. Time spent worrying when you are trying to sleep usually is wasted time. It is time much more valuably spent praying.
Do not let such times turn into a distraction for you. Look at it as a call to prayer. Do not mss the opportunity to get some help for problems, instead of just running them through and through your mind.
Worrying will make you miserable. Praying will not make you miserable. |
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