Gospel-Shaped Affections: Anxious for Nothing, Prayerful in Everything

We live in a time when it is easy to worry. A weakening economy leaves us anxious about our finances. Will our jobs continue to be stable? Will our wages be sufficient to cover our expenses? The rising costs of food, housing, and fuel can leave us wondering how we’re going to pay the mortgage, the electric bill, the phone bill, the car insurance. The precarious position of our health insurance system, along with the instability of programs like social security and Medicare can leave us anxious about having the resources to take care of loved ones as they grow older and require increased healthcare. It can leave us anxious about having the resources to take care of ourselves as the same happens to us. And it can leave us anxious about the world our children and grandchildren will be growing up in, if things continue down the path they’re heading. Political instability continues to characterize our world—all the more so recently considering the unrest in the Ukraine and Russia’s invasion of Crimea. The threat of war is ever-present in one corner of the world or another—North Korea is test firing rockets into the ocean, Iran is attempting to build a nuclear weapon, and now it seems that Russia has aspirations of developing into a dominating power. The earthquake near Encino that happened this past Monday reminds us that at any moment something entirely out of our control could destroy our lives as we know them. We live in a time when it is easy to worry...

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