Not a day goes by without me worrying about something.

There is always something to be afraid of, to be anxious about, to be deeply concerned with.  Will I wake up in time to have a shower before class?  Will I be able to stay awake and pay attention before class? When will I have time to do all of my assignments, have a social life and still have some time to myself?  How will my assignments turn out when I have so much on my mind while I am doing them?  And what about the future?  That terrible future word that always gets me anxious!  What will I do?  Where will I be?  How will I adjust?  Ahhh!  All these questions float in my brain on a regular basis and I hate it!

What does worrying do?  I know it doesn't improve my performance in my life, it doesn't help me to organize, it doesn't help my moods or my relationships. The only thing that is produced by worrying is stress and headaches-literally.
If worrying doesn't help then why do we worry so much?  Why do we do things that are harmful to us?  And the hardest question of them all- how do we stop?

Well I believe that we must first want to stop worrying.  We must realize the terrible influences that it has on us and want to change.  If we think of worrying as a helpful tool then we will never get past it.  We need to learn how to take a deep breath.  We need to discover the beauty of life and focus on what is going on in the present and not in the future.  Sure we need to plan ahead so that we are ready (in most cases) but that does not mean that we should place all of our attention on those plans and worry about their outcome.

I am a believing Christian.  I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart. He saved me from death (the punishment of sin), he healed me physically when I was a baby and throughout my life he has lovingly cared for me.  I have felt and experienced the love of Jesus and have no doubts in my mind about my salvation.  I do know however, that I am not perfect.  I sin every single day.  Worrying is a sin.  I know its odd to think of worrying as a sin but it is.  When we worry we are acting as if we don't have faith that God will provide for us, that He will give us all the tools that we need to succeed and prosper.  In a sense  being anxious is proof of our pride.  We are relying on ourselves to figure out what will happen.  We are relying on our planning skills and not on God's divine intervention and providence.  Its interesting that worrying would be connected to an individual's pride because worrying in itself denotes the fact that we are not self-sufficient.  We do not have it all together, we don't know everything.  If we did then we wouldn't worry about anything.  But our worrisome attitudes tells us that we are dependent on God who is much more wise and powerful than us.

If God is for us, then who can be against us.  If He provides for us, in His divine power and awesome love, then what could we ask for; what could we worry about.  This is not to say that our worries are always feeble and meaningless; yes sometimes we have good reason to worry.  But God wants to hear your concern and to come alongside you in your troubles.  He doesn't want to see you troubled; He wants to prove his power and love to you by reaching out to you and taking away your worries.  All you need is faith!

The Rejected Among Us

I was inspired to start this blog to write about one subject in particular, the poor people in our society.  Today I was watching some videos on Youtube about homelessness in Toronto and I was shocked at the content of the comments left at the bottom of the page.  People were saying it is the homeless peoples' problem that they are on the street and suffering; that they would spit into their cups that should be filled the money of the rich.  This is despicable for several reasons.  If you want to be completely insulting and unmerciful to the poor people in our society who actually go through rough times in their lives then you should keep those feelings to yourself and not discourage those people who are actually being a helpful member of society.  Another reason, you should not have those feelings at all since it does not really matter why people are on the street-only that they are on the street.  We cannot possibly know all of the individual stories of these people and so cannot come to the conclusion that all of them are lazy bums who just want to live off of our freewill.  No, these people are suffering through troubled times, mental conditions and broken hearts.  Our hearts should be broken for those who have nothing while we have everything.  What is five dollars less going to do anyway?  Any homeless person would benefit from five dollars and we will not suffer from the lose of a little blue piece of paper.  I wish people would have a heart. 

I worked at a Drop-In centre in Brampton this summer.  It was a really great experience.  We served homeless people donuts and coffee, sat with them and talked with them.  We saw many people come off the streets with mental disabilities.  Many of them were wearing layers upon layers of clothing and were dehydrated.  For the most part every individual I met was drained, depressed, uncertain of what to do and without hope in society or anything else.  They are a rejected people and it breaks my heart.  

The drop-in centre was located in a plaza which had an outer level facing the road and an inner level which reminded me of an indoor mall.  The drop-in centre was on the far side of the inner- isle of shops so it was a really great area for homeless people to get away from the blinding sun and occasionally sleep at night.  Within days of arriving in the city I overheard the complaints of our neightbours in the plaza.  They were upset that homeless people hung out in that area during the day so much and slept there at night.  Apparently their presence was detering customers from coming to their shops.  Their complaint is understandable- yes those shopkeepers need customers but the people should not be avoiding the shops on account of the homeless people.  That is disgusting!  Why are you avoiding the homeless people? Why are you afraid of them?  What do you think will happen if you get out of your rich people comfort zone and treat them like a human being?  When you see people sleeping on the streets you should not be afraid, you should be wondering why they have to sleep there and what you can do about it.  

What I never thought....

I never thought in all of my 8030 days of  life that I would actually be inspired to start my own blog and leave all of my thoughts (well I guess only some of them) to be gazed at by whosoever decides to flip through all of these blogs (I never have the time for that).  Well I guess its ok.  I'm not trying to be fancy on here I just want to express my thoughts.  So here goes nothing