Embracing Concern Rejecting Worry

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Hello and welcome to the Overflow podcast. My
name is Craig Booker. The title of this episode

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is embracing concern rejecting worry the material
in this episode is inspired by winning the war

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on worry by Louis Giglio note I will talk a lot
about mental health but please note this is not

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a substitute for therapy or mental health care
I am not a counselor or a physician if you need

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help with mental health challenges please find
a qualified mental health professional the title

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of this episode is embracing concern rejecting
worry all right so last episode we talked about

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the anatomy of worry we were talking about the
five major themes of worry in this episode we were

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talking about like how do we plan and and Steward
our time and resources without kind of falling

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into the Trap of worry so in this section or this
chapter Louie opens by telling a story about about

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his wife Shelly and so he starts off telling this
story about how Shelly his wife is what he calls

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an A to Z or a to zed uh person uh while he is
an A to B type personality and so what that means

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is is she is really good with all of the details
from the very beginning to the very end you know

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if if they have a project that they’re working
on in this ministry you know she’s really good

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at starting it going through all the details and
and making sure everything’s accomplished from

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beginning to end where he is the type that has
is gifted with being able to have a vision for

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something and maybe getting started or maybe
getting a little past getting started but then

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he is on to thinking about New Visions and new
things to accomplish and so he goes about telling

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about his wife and how he loves his wife very
dearly and appreciates all that she’s done for

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him and blessed him uh but also how you know she
is just a different personality type than him um

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and then he kind of transitions to talking about
how both personality types there uh the person

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that has you know very high level view um that’s
a big Vision person and how a person that deals

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with all the details how they’re all susceptible
to worry and so he starts out talking he says he

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says we learned in the previous chapter about the
anatomy of worry and how the different themes of

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worry are connected to the same thread of control
and while we determine that our ability to control

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Our Lives is an illusion we still need to address
the question of how we can reject control and fear

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while still accounting for planning preparation
and concern he goes on to say God calls you to

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Steward what you have in your hands he gives
you decision-making authority over what he

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has entrusted to you in Matthew 25 Jesus tells
the parable about a master who goes away for an

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extended period of time and the master entrusts a
considerable about of money to his three servants

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and most of you probably if you’re familiar
with the story it is you know talking about

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the talents the story of the talents and that’s
what this story is and so the first servant he

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gives five talents uh and this is the equivalent
of about a hundred years worth of wages so it’s a

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lot of money so a lot of people when they see the
number five as in five talents they’re like that’s

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not very much but it’s actually translates to a
lot of money so the first servant he gave five

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talents and then the second servant he gives two
which still a lot of money uh and then the third

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he gives one talent and so you know you have these
three servants he talks about and he talks about

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what each of the Ser servants did with the money
and the return that they brought with that money

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um and how the third servant you know knowing how
demanding uh the master was he basically hid his

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money in the ground uh to ensure sure that he
was able to return the same money to his master

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uh and uh the master was very um disappointed in
him you know basically he should have put this

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money at least in the bank and earned some
interest but because of his fear he didn’t

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and you know the others the other two were able
to bring a return for the money that the master

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gave them and uh Louie goes on to say that the
master gave talents the money according to their

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ability and so that’s a a key point in in this
story and we’ll we’ll get into that a little bit

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in the future uh then he goes on to talking about
learning to plan without practicing worry because

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I think that’s where a lot of us start out with
is we have concern about whatever it is that is

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on our mind and we think that it’s logical for
us to be prepared uh to be good stewards of our

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resources and so this is the starting point for a
lot of us is a a good place and so he talks about

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defining some of these terms and he talks about
planning and he says planning is a constructive

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and tangible process where steps and actions
are linked together for future outcomes uh Louie

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goes on to say while planning uh while planning
contingencies are always in place for unexpect

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unexpected events or delays but these contingency
plans do not impede our ability to move towards

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to move towards the next step with confidence he
says in other words planning is about leveraging

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gifts and resources around what is in your hand at
this moment and moving it Forward step by step he

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says if planning is a constructive and tangible
process worry is the projection of an endless

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stirring of wha if scenarios that absorbs all
present effort uh and he says uh what you could

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or absorb all present effort what you could be
doing with what is currently in your hands this

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string of what ifs is of what ifs often brings
fear and paralysis that keeps us from our next

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steps uh he goes on to say planning focuses on
the present and on what is in your hands while

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occasionally looking ahead to factoring in to
factor in what is to come worry fixates on the

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future while occasionally circling back to he put
in quotes work on what is currently in front of

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you all right so it says that it’s talking about
the third servant he says the third servant in

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the story of the talents got paralyzed by the
wha ifs uh he lists off lists off a bunch like

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what if I lose the money what if I’m not capable
what if the other servants out earn me what if I

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get sick or injured what if something big happen
happens to all the livestock in my town and I’m

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caught up in financial ruin what if I fail
what if I lose my job my family my home so

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this third servant had all these questions running
through his mind all right so Louie says scripture

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actually says he was afraid uh according to
Matthew 25:25 uh isn’t it interesting that

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the result to getting caught in the web of what
ifs is Fe remember how I mentioned that worry is

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rooted in fear in this Parable we see Jesus
showing us that connection so it says while

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the first two servants were were concerned and
practice good planning this servant got stuck in

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a stream of worry and once he got stuck into the
stream he eventually got stuck into the whirlpool

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of self-doubt boy have have you ever been there
I’ve been there like it’s kind of like you kind

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of go down a rabbit hole hole and then you can’t
get out like we’ve covered earlier every so often

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when you’re building a plan you need to look ahead
but you can’t live there you can’t fixate so much

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on the ideas of tomorrow that you cease living
in the realities of today so I I want to add a

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little bit there because I think I’ve mentioned
before that you know part of my struggle has been

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that I always try to be prepared for situations
that’s part of my personality it’s not you know

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necessarily just part of anxiety that’s how I am
as I try to be prepared uh but you know when I’m

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anxious when I’m fearful I tend to go a little bit
overboard especially when we’re you know maybe my

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family’s going on vacation I feel like I have to
over prepare to compensate for a bunch of what

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F scenarios and some of that is logical so some
of that is good you want to be prepared for your

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vacation and not have to buy things when you’re
there because it costs you more money if you can

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adequately pack them for your travel but what I
would tend to do was spend more time trying to

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prepare than actually living and so that’s what
this point is really I think hitting on here is

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when we fixate so much on the ideas of tomorrow
that you cease living in the realities of today

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so there’s just this Tipping Point of of being
adequately prepared versus going overboard where

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it’s kind of ruining and running your life and
there’s he’s talking about this study he says

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according to psych Psychology today in a small
study done at Penn State University scientists and

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doctors set out to expose a group of volunteers to
as many possible stress points as was feasible in

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a a 10day window then they observed if they
observed if those stress points or what ifs

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actually came to pass it says after 30 days of
observation the team conducting the study notes

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that 91% of worries did not materialize says yes
91% big exclamation point question mark right he

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says what what’s most important is what is in our
hands right now what we are tangibly carrying and

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I think that’s a good statement to help ground
us when we’re struggling with fear anxiety being

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prepared uh is what we are carrying in our hands
today like right now and he goes on to talk about

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practical steps to plan well it says how can you
plan without tipping over into worry here are a

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few steps and he goes into these in the book he
goes into quite a bit more detailed than this

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but I’m just going to give a high level view uh
because I think these really capture the essence

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of it he says do what is in your hands to do today
and he references Colossians 3:23 uh second he

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says don’t pick up any not yet realized challenges
until necessary Matthew 6:34 third recognize that

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the master is returning and stay prepared Luke 124
it says 42-42 but I must have a typo there he goes

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on to say planning well and steering clear from
your worry means that we embrace the mentality of

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I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it you know
if you’re anything like me uh like when your mind

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is kind of racing and circling around trying to
be prepared for something uh you’re thinking about

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all these different scenarios and this mentality
of I’ll cross the bridge when I get there I think

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is meant to really free you up of you know there’s
nothing substantial or beneficial for for me to do

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today about this issue that I’ll I’ll deal with
it when it comes to me you know I’ll cross the

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bridge when it get when I get there he asked the
question um what if what’s in my hand is too much

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for me to carry and I think this is a really
legitimate concern because a lot of times we

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feel very overwhelmed I think there’s this large
debate of well God will not give you more than you

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can you can bear and you know there’s scripture
around that you know there’s also this idea of

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bringing God into our worry and that’s actually
another chapter is bringing God into our worry

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I think it’s the next chapter so he goes into
detail about and he says in Matthew 25:15 Jesus

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said to one he gave five two I guess that’s
right to one he gave five talents to another

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two and to another one to each according to his
own ability uh that was the nkjv so remember I

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said earlier that we’d come back to this uh this
idea and earlier I said in the story that he gave

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speaking of the master he gave talents according
to their ability here we’re circling back to

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that and he he’s quoting scripture in Matthew
25:15 about he gave according to their own

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ability he says God puts things into your hands
according to your ability and his power to work

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in and through you if he if he’s entrusted it
to you you can carry it now my addition to that

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is you may have to depend on him to carry it
but you can still carry it it may be too much

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without you your dependence on him uh but that
should tell us something is we’re not meant to

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carry something without him without depending
on him all right so we have discussion what has

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God placed in your hands today take some time to
thank God for what he has graciously graciously

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given to you two identify a time in your life
when your planning turned into worry looking

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back was there a Tipping Point you can recognize
now third it says read James 4:13-17 how can you

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cultivate a spirit of if it is the Lord’s will
if you were to stop overthinking your plans what

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would that free you up to do more of today that’s
all for this episode thank you for watching if you

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