Who are you listening to?

Lately, I’ve been feeling anxious. There’s no other real way to describe it, I just plain feel anxious. I think a lot can be attributed to being at the end of my pregnancy and looking forward to the impending arrival of my precious daughter. But there are parts of this emotional spectrum that are not new to me at all. They are sadly downright familiar, in fact. I know the tingling of anxiety all too well, so it is simple to recognize when I am being encroached upon by these unwelcome emotions.

No matter how heavy the anxiety gets, though, there are always tools we have with which to fight back. Just feeling the anxiety does not mean that I have to accept the anxiety. Believe me, it took me a long time to realize that. I used to be a veritable slave to my emotions. I thought because I felt something it had to become my reality. But over the years, the Lord has shown me that I have a choice whether to accept those emotions as truth or not.

When I start to feel anxious, I need to immediately do some mind-sifting and try to recognize where all the voices are coming from. Do my anxious thoughts sound like something God would say to me? If not, then I can choose to disregard them – yes, even if they feel like the realist reality of them all! I need to be very careful and make a conscious effort to only let The Voice of Truth permeate my life and reality. If not, the anxiety will only give way to more anxiety and leave me feeling weak, helpless, and hopeless.

Today, whose voice are you listening to? The influences we allow in our lives will impact and shape our day-to-day existence, so choose wisely!