reinforcement of repetition

I’m speaking from my own struggles, and I felt like this needed to be shared.

Did you know that an estimated 2.7% of the U.S. population experienced panic disorder (PD), 7.1% had social anxiety disorder (SAD), and 9.1% were impacted by phobias?

In August 2023, almost 32 percent of women and 25 percent of men had symptoms of anxiety disorder.

So, what is it about us that creates this condition? Now, before you fill up my phone or email with comments, please hear me. I have no doubt there are many that suffer from chemical imbalances in the brain which can affect cognitive behavior. However, most human conditions are created by “learned behaviors.” Therefore. we condition our behavior through reinforcement of repetition.

So, the question is what produces anxiety and the answer is as simple as “we desire control.”

This need for control creates the idea that we must look for tangible answers to tangible problems. However, God doesn’t work the way we think or act the way we act.

Yesterday, my very dear friend, Gary, texted me this quote:

“So, you’re thinking God needs supervision.”

This was his response to me after sharing with him my concerns regarding some of our needs that we have at the ROC Recovery Center and how much of an effort that I’m trying to make in order to meet these needs.

Anyway, he got me thinking last night that what concerns me concerns God. We are even instructed in the book of Matthew, where Christ says:

“Come on to me all who are burden and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

It is sometimes a disconcerting truth for many Christians that even though we belong to God through faith in Christ, we still seem to experience the same problems that plagued us before we were saved. We often become discouraged and bogged down in life’s cares.

Thankfully, He has given us the same solution He gave in both Psalms and Peter’s letter. “Cast your cares on the LORD, and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall” (Psalm 55:22), and “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Now watch this….the word “Cast” comes from the Greek Word which means “to thrown upon”. ….this throwing is the exact same description of the action that the Isarealites behavior depicted in Luke 19:35 when we read, “And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.”

In others words, friends, the revelation is this: Think about it. Ready? We are told to throw our cares, our worries, our doubts, our troubles “upon where Christ NOW SITS, not upon the colt. BUT NOW ON HIS THRONE.

Let God be you Supervisor. Give it up and give it over. Trust God.