Christian Ed
Hello all, well we are due to be back to snow tonight but have faith...spring is coming!
This week we will continue our series on Mood. The topic is Anxiety and our bible verse this week will be Philippians 4:6-7 which encourages us to overcome worry and anxiety by focusing on God and his promises.
We will talk about how to shift our focus from what's going wrong to what's going right. Teenagers feel anxious about many things and can often find it difficult to shift their negative thoughts when bad things happen. We will revisit our discussions on using a variety of of activities like journaling, drawing, talking with a friend and prayer to deal with anxiety.
We all experience anxiety. Like us, Jesus also experienced anxiety in the week leading up to the crucifixion. How could He not? He also knew that His death would not be the end of the story and He prayed. In the book of John Jesus takes a whole chapter to tell His disciples that they should always have hope, even in hard times, because He would always be with them.
Too often in in this world there is much to be anxious about. Too often we think that it is because there is something wrong with us or that we are broken. But, in reality it is the world that is broken. Everyday we observe hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness and selfishness - it is all around us. As a result we may feel broken, downtrodden and hopeless but that's not why we experience anxiety. We feel anxiety because we all face trials and sorrows, but Jesus promises that these won't last because he has overcome it and promises never to abandon us. When we share our anxieties with God through prayer we can more easily let go of these feelings. Let's face it...God's track record for helping us get through bad days is 100% and that's pretty good!
Best wishes,
Kim