Full Control

When I was about twelve years old, I started struggling with germaphobia. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a major perfectionist, and I stressed and worried about a lot of unnecessary things. Then I began to wash my hands so much that they were constantly cracked and bleeding. I worried about getting sick or something bad happening, and I tried to use my own power to keep those things from happening. I was constantly stressed and sad. Eventually my mom sent me to a counselor, which really helped. I also realized a big part of my problem was that I was trying to control my life by myself. As I tried to control my life, I was constantly anxious, and I was becoming sick. I realized I couldn’t do life on my own. When I was overwhelmed with anxiety, God’s love for me didn’t change. He had compassion on me. He got my attention and drew me to Himself. I realized that, even though I trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I wasn’t trusting Him to take care of me. I wasn’t entrusting full control of my life to Him. And I wanted that to change. As Christians, we have a choice: Will we acknowledge our loving God’s full control of our lives? If we choose to rely on Him and follow His leading, we get to see God work in our lives for His good purposes. Through my experience with anxiety, I came to trust God more, and I started to give Him full control of my life. I realized there are some things I cannot control, but God can. And I can pray about these things, knowing that God is big enough to take care of them all. • Parker Ryan • While making a choice to trust in God and give Him control won’t magically take away anxiety, it is a step in the right direction. It’s also helpful to know that God is with us, even when we experience anxiety, and He doesn’t condemn us (Romans 8:1). Whenever we feel stressed or worried about something, we can pray about these things. We can lean on Jesus, the One who hurts with us and understands our anxiety fully because He experienced it Himself (Luke 22:39-44). And we can seek help from