do not be anxious

Our family is going through a difficult time. Its not appropriate for me to specific at this moment but I wanted to post my source of comfort and hope because maybe some of you need this too.

I am a super big dork so I like to read a passage in at least this many versions before I really start unpacking it. This is a very famous bible verse and popular for anyone going through strife of most varieties.

Philippians 4:6

(New International Version)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Here our language is "anything" and "everything" - very positive. Ringing affirmative.

(New American Standard Bible)
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Here the language is "nothing" and "everything" - there is nothing but worry outside of God, surrender your worries to God and everything will be ok.

(The Message)
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

One day I will post my editorial on my opinions of The Message. Not today. Today I will just say that I usually like to read The Message too but I don't hang out in it for very long. Its a great way to get a modern feel for a verse and open your mind to a verse ... let's move on.

(Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

My new favorite bible. Very similar to NIV.

To worry is to not trust God. To worry is to hold on to that inner control freak. To worry is to think that you can sit around and freak out and somehow, by the power of yourself, your worries will be solved. Wrong! I think most christians intellectually know that everything is possible with God,

Luke 18:27 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) He replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Have you ever gone through a challenge and spent a lot of time waiting; waiting for a phone call, waiting for a reply, waiting for an answer to a prayer? Even though these two verses very directly concern the answer or the relief we might be waiting for - it also directs our attitudes while we wait. We can easily turn on any one of hundreds of distractions: tv, radio, a drink, drown out our sorrows in our work - but none of these will give us the hope of surrendering our worries and fears to God. None of these will pour the fear out of our hearts, and fill them back up with peace.

Intellectually we know its true. The only way to do it - to bring ourselves outside of our human nature to be control freaks is to pray. Let's pray today. Let's pray for ourselves, our families, our friends, our enemies. Let's dig deep in our hearts, give our worries to God to sort out and pray fervently for each other.