A short message on social media made thousands of people to leave their homes. Someone predicted a strong earthquake at 11 pm.

The message went viral. In half a day everyone in the country knew about it. I was one of those outside waiting for the shaking. Better be safe than sorry.

The earthquake didn’t happen.

The next day there were many reports by the government. The main message was: no one can predict an earthquake. Turns out, it’s not possible. The news media agencies and a few journalists were fined for spreading panic.

It was a story worth a worry even though it wasn’t true.

You’re not the author of your worries

I don’t know if they found people responsible for the very first alert. It made me think about where do worries come from. Have you ever thought to sit down and just come up with some negative scenarios that will be happening in the near future?

No. Nobody does that. The anxious thoughts are not your thoughts.

During one of my conversations with God, I realized that I never come up with reasons to worry. I never purposefully do it. I don’t like to be anxious. What I purposefully do is thinking of reasons why everything is going to work out. I don’t look for a reason to fail or suffer. I don’t try to make sense of why this bad event will happen.

No, the very opposite — I hate it. I want it out of my life. I’d rather live in challenging times and have peace in my heart than live a calm life and have constant anxiety.

You’re not the author of your worries.

I would go an extra step and say that it’s not natural for people. It comes from the devil who hates us and wants only bad for us. He wants that we doubt God’s goodness. He seeks to drown us in the negativity so that we start to curse our lives and everything around us.

Sadly there are people who lost their trust in God based on predictions. It felt so real and scary that it seemed like they’re experiencing a tragedy while the reality is completely different. The storm was within them.

Sure, it’s possible that something negative will happen. But our feelings are worse than weather forecast predictions. We shouldn’t be constantly expecting something bad. It’s not healthy. It’s not normal.

You’re not coming up with these scenarios. They are being sown into your heart and with hope to be accepted. They don’t try to prepare you or give you safety. They seek to steal your joy and destroy your peace.

How do the seeds of anxiety enter our hearts?

Mainly because we give opportunities. You only need to turn on the news and you’ll get a lot of ideas for worries. It’s like a factory to make people anxious and fearful.

There are people that don’t even know there’s a global pandemic. They simply don’t have the tool to know about it. This lack of knowledge makes it as if they don’t even live here. They don’t even know what to worry about.

It’s a natural human response to look for good news. That’s why people get stuck in front of the TV screen all day changing the channels. They are looking for good news. Something that would say “it’s all going to be ok, don't worry”.

I remember the beginning of the pandemic. I noticed that I hate to be reading all these doomsday scenarios, yet I kept scrolling for more just to find hope. When I realized that there's no hope in what people wrote or spoke about, I decide to stop reading the news completely. I told my friend to notify me if something important was happening.

A week passed by and it started to seem like I live in a bubble. It seemed like I was apart of a different world! I had joy and peace when all people around me were fearful.

I had no fear because I didn’t know what to be afraid of.

Let’s say I continued to read and allowed my heart to accept all the bad news. I would have worried about different scenarios. But I didn’t! It’s many months since the beginning of the pandemic and I have to admit that I had the best summer ever!

The news agencies use the strategies to earn money. Just like you want to come up with a good article title or an interesting picture to draw attention and get more views. They need eyes reading and watching.

It’s sad, but the negative news works best. We are activating survival instincts in order to know the threat and be prepared to face it. If you don’t know about the danger you can’t be prepared therefore you have no choice but to read the news. Because of that, you’re stuck in this never-ending cycle and you start to expect bad events to happen.

I'm not saying we shouldn’t be informed. I’m showing that worries come from information. Most of the negative information comes from the news.

The more we know the more pictures appear in our minds. Anxiety feeds on the negative information. Scary facts constantly empower your ability to worry.

The answer is

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1b, ESV)

There’s a lot of wisdom in this attitude. We cannot protect ourselves, but God can. The best thing is that He promised to take care of us. He promised to never leave us nor forsake us. Even if we have to go through the valley of the shadow of death He‘s there with us.

The negative information is successful in destroying your faith.

I wish I knew these things before and started to build my boldness and trust in God instead of looking for a hopefully headline in the news portal. I wish I didn't get carried away until became an expert. I could’ve spent all that time studying God’s promises to protect me.

The answer is to choose what you feed your heart.

If you watch horror movies, you create fear in your heart. Then it seems like every dark corner is full of ghosts. You wouldn’t have even thought of such a thing without the movie. Your fear got ideas and uses them against you.

Do you give your anxiety opportunities to create ideas? Or do you allow God’s promises to strengthen you no matter what’s going to happen?

I have the privilege to disciple a nurse. In the hospital where she works a lot of doctors got infected. She had many contacts with them yet she feels safe and protected. It’s because every day she reads Psalm 91.

I wish every Christian was known to be as bold as a lion! If faith comes by hearing (Rom 10:17), we can choose what we believe. We can turn off the voices that preach fear and listen to what Jesus has to say. He still encourages saying, “don’t worry about tomorrow” (Mat 6:33).

Last thoughts

We all get messages about future events broadcasted into our minds. The truth is that our thoughts are not a trustworthy source.

Thoughts of anxiety have little to none basis for proof. If you live by them you won’t be able to think clearly. Yet God gave us a sound mind.

The best thing we can do is to strengthen our faith and if something ever does happen you will have confidence in your God. No Goliath will intimidate you. Instead, you’ll be on the lookout to bring God’s enemies down.

Unfollow those that cause you a slight reason to fear. Don’t give ideas to your anxiety. Follow Jesus who can give the peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7).

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