The Worry Box That Can Help You Worry Less

Do you have a worry box? Perhaps you've never really thought about it. Did you know that you could utilize the idea of a worry box to help you worry less? The Bible tells us to not worry about anything, but instead to pray about everything. Philippians 4:6 says, "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Praying about everything and offering our needs up to God can become a habit if we work on it. But then after that is when the worry box kicks in. We pray about the issue, but then continue to think and worry about it once we've said "amen" and gone on with our day. The battle is not in telling God about our needs, the battle is in leaving them with him.

 

I first became aware of the idea of a worry box when my husband and I were separated and he was in a relationship with another woman. After he moved out, I was suddenly on my own every day and night with our three small children. The hurt and worry were at an all time high and I realized how easily I could get swallowed up by it all. I began a habit every night, as the children slept in their room and I was heading to bed, of kneeling down on the floor outside their door and cupping my hands together as I began to pray. I would mentally put my children and my marriage and my heart and my sanity in my hands and lift them up over my head. I prayerfully surrendered everything in my hands up to God. Night after night I would do this. I imagined myself putting all of the shattered pieces of my life into my hands and then giving them all to God, asking him to put them back together. I would go to bed with a true and deep peace that God was in control and that I could trust him with literally every aspect of my life. I would sleep in peace and begin a new day in the morning. However, as my day wore on I found myself thinking and dwelling on my situation and I would feel the vice grip of fear wrap around my heart and mind. I was offering everything up to God in the evening, but then taking it back every morning. I knew I could not continue in this pattern. So, I began to utilize a worry box. Whenever I would catch myself worrying about my marriage or thinking about how broken my heart was or trying to figure out what I was going to do if my husband did file for divorce, I would stop myself. I would mentally picture a cardboard box, imagine myself putting everything inside of it, closing the top, and handing it up to God. I would then walk away into the rest of my day. I often did this many times a day, every day. Sometimes I would suddenly realize that at some point I had quietly taken the box back from God and opened it, sadly fishing through its contents without even realizing it. Other times, in my anger, I would grab the box and rip open the top, pouring the hurt out on the floor so it would mix with my tears and remind God what was going on in my life. But then I would always box it back up and surrender it back to God, because I knew that he was the only one with hands big enough to handle it all. That worry box was the only way I was able to get through those days and months without being completely consumed by worry and fear. It was a simple concept that had a profound impact on my every day.

I still utilize a worry box, though it isn't quite as beaten and battered as that first worry box. The beautiful thing about it being an imaginary box is that it can go anywhere with me. Sometimes I'm better at using it than others, but a worry box helps me remember that God is in control and that surrendering my worry-inducing situations to him daily and hourly will do more to help me walk through them than worrying about them. And continually boxing up my worries and fears and surrendering them to God is the only way I can fully live out Philippians 4:6.    

Are you walking through a difficult situation or struggle with worry in your life? Consider using a worry box. Let me know in the comments if you do and I will pray for you that it will be as helpful for you as it is for me.