Thinking of self....less.

A couple of months ago I happened upon Billy Graham's website, and wouldn't you know the daily devotional was about dealing with anxiety.  He talked about how having our minds on ourselves and not on Christ and others can be destructive.  The scripture for that day was Isaiah 26:3, "He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in Him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord."  The prayer for that day was, "Keep my mind on You Lord, and help me to discipline the thoughts of self which crowd out Your peace."  This made a lot of sense to me, and over the weeks God has showed me how my anxiety has stemmed partly from my self centered thoughts.  I can recall several occasions over the years when I was feeling anxious or actually having a panic attack, but when something distracted me, the feelings/attack went away.  My anxiety happens generally when I have nothing else to do but think of my "self" and my feelings.  Romans 8:6 says, "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."   I've always prided myself on not being one of those women who has something on the calendar everyday and is so busy and stressed out.  Our family has lots of leisure time and we like it that way.  But maybe I need to find a balance between leisure time and activities to keep my mind off of self, especially activities that involve serving others.  God has been putting it on my mind a lot lately that I need to be more of a servant.  Growing up I never had a good example of what it meant to serve others, so it has been really hard for me now as an adult to see those opportunities.  But Jesus came to serve and He wants me to serve others as well.  I feel God is telling me that serving others is one way to keep my mind off of self and in turn, my anxiety will become less and less.  Philippians 2:3-4, "...in humility count others more important than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."  If you are going through the same thing, may your prayer be that God would turn your thoughts toward Christ and your actions toward serving others.

Philippians 4:8, "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things."