Thursday, October 21, 2010

THANKFUL THURSDAY...living in a fog

Have you ever had to drive in a dense fog before?
It is difficult to see anything in front of you. The white blanket of fog whites out everything visible. The cars around you. The bridge. The road. The nearby buildings. I will never forget one particular foggy morning. It was several years ago when I still lived in my childhood hometown, a tragedy occurred one foggy morning. The fog was so thick, that a multi-car pile up occurred on one of the bridges. Lives were changed that day.

I read somewhere that if you would take a dense fog that covered 7 square city blocks and condensed it, you would get less than one single 8 ounce glass of water! Is that not amazing that one single glass of water vaporized can actually transform into a dense, blinding fog covering 7 blocks!

Worry is like fog!
We allow something in our life - whatever it may be - that amounts to almost nothing, to become a blinding, all encompassing vapor that hinders our faith. Worrying will cause you to not see things clearly, it will blindside you and it will keep you living in a constant fog.

A study conducted by the University of Michigan discovered some things about the state of worry:

1. 60% of what you worry about is unwarranted.
2. 20% of what you worry about is already past; it is over and done with.
3. 10% are issues so petty that it is foolish to worry about them.
4. 4%-5% are justifiable concerns, but there is nothing you can do about them; they are out of your hands.
5. Only 2% of what we fear and worry about is legitimate.

Before you allow your foggy state of mind to rob you of peace, joy and contentment, you need to know that there is freedom from worry. When we shrink those problems that have us so worried right back to their normal size and place them in the hands of God, the fog will immediately be lifted. When we understand that He is in control of ALL things, our lives will be changed.

I am thankful for His leading and guiding as we go thru an occasional dense fog. How about you? What are you grateful for today? Join your grateful heart with ours for THANKFUL THURSDAY.

Lynn is our gracious host this month. Link up HERE! In Lynn's TT post, she asked us to list 10 things you may not know about ourselves. I had already written my TT post but will add my short list here:

DID YOU KNOW ....

1. I have 1 husband, 4 kids, 2 daughter in laws, 3 dogs, 2 cars and an empty bank account!
2. I got married at the age of 17!
3. I have a birthmark - a small hole in my earlobe!
4. I do NOT like diet drinks!
5. I cannot resist a good sale on shoes!
6. I am a Pastors wife!
7. One of my first jobs was working for a newspaper!
8. I am a northern raised girl living in the south. (that makes me a southernized Yankee!)
9. I have been married 29 years to my high school sweetie!
10. Life is an adventure and I am living an extreme one!

HAPPY TT!

6 comments:

Heather said...

Thank you for this! I tend to worry sometimes over nothing. Blessings sister!

Holly said...

Laurie,

Enjoyed your post....

I forwarded it to a dear friend of mine as well....


God Bless,

Holly

Candy said...

Thank you for your message:

Worry is like fog!
We allow something in our life - whatever it may be - that amounts to almost nothing, to become a blinding, all encompassing vapor that hinders our faith. Worrying will cause you to not see things clearly, it will blindside you and it will keep you living in a constant fog.


And also your thankful thursday post

many blessings!

Anonymous said...

Wow Laurie,
What a great post today. Actually you do great posts everyday but this one really got me.

Have a great day.
Stefanie

becky aka theRAV said...

Another great post! I admit I am one of those worriers. Should have used this as one of my 10 things about me. I loved your list esp the part about you being a southernized Yankee! LOL

Unknown said...

5. Only 2% of what we fear and worry about is legitimate.

Whoa! Laurie. This really puts it into perspective,huh? Great post and I giggled at some of your items on your list.

So glad to know you my friend and how even better. See you again Thursday and have a great weekend. Hugs, Lynn