"Lie 1: Something really bad is going to happen."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book, Winning the War on Worry  (p. 3). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Now this is one of the worry lies.

Louie says, "We’ve all been tormented by this lie. Throughout the day, as we are confronted by different situations, we too easily tilt to the negative extreme and assume something bad is going to happen. But really, only a fraction of the things we worry about come to pass. A 2019 study from Penn State showed that roughly 91 percent of the things we worry about never even happen.1 But worry wants to convince you of what feels like the inevitability of every possible negative outcome. It tries to guarantee that your situation will end in the worst-case scenario.

"There’s a quote often attributed to French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who framed this lie well when he wrote: 'My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened.'

Louie continues, "I’ve lost both my parents to long-term, debilitating diseases. Pain and suffering and loss are a part of our journey on a broken planet. Jesus underscored this when He said, 'In this world you will have trouble . . .' The power to deflate worry, though, is found in how Jesus finished that sentence: 'but . . . I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

"So here’s the new reality that allows you to combat the lie that something bad is going to happen: most of what you’re spending your time worrying about won’t happen. If you know and believe this ahead of time, you can cut worry off from the onset because you’re now armed with the reality that 'the worst' outcome statistically will not occur. The more you choose not to go down the path of worry, the better equipped you’ll become."

He then says, "Now, again, that’s not to say that bad things won’t come our way, because unfortunately we live in a broken world filled with heartache, misfortune, and loss. But what it does mean is that we don’t have to overcommit our valuable time and attention toward what-if circumstances. If the what if happens, when something bad actually lands in your world, Jesus will give you what you need to overcome it."

Ans that is so true. Yes, yes! #continuethought