My New Year's Resolution and books that have changed my life...

I like to read and I'm usually flipping through some book - especially non-fiction. I don't know why I've ended up reading so much non-fiction. I guess I need a lot of help from all those self-help books. Anyhow, there are times I pick up a book and within a few chapters realize my life will never be the same again.

I feel that way about Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning", Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover", and Jeffrey R. Holland's "Trusting Jesus" and I am now adding another book to that list. I love it when I find books like that - I get excited, wondering, "What if I'd never read this book?" or "Was I meant to read this?" I think for all of those other books I was meant to read them and I think the same for this one.

Before I tell you what it is - I've got to keep the suspense going - I want to tell you why I picked it up in the first place. I only made one resolution this year and I am totally excited about it. My New Year's resolution is to overcome fear. That this year would be a year without fear - and that I'd be leaving it behind forever.

What do I mean by fear? I mean things like worrying that my husband will get in an accident in the snow on the way home from work. Or that my kids will get kidnapped or molested. Or that when I'm walking in a dark parking lot that someone will assault me. I also don't want to worry about the future - wondering if we'll ever "make" it. I don't want to worry if people like me or if the thing I said earlier that day was stupid. I don't want to worry about anything anymore. I will still be concerned about the future but I won't worry. Worry only gives you ulcers and wrinkles. Like when I am walking across a busy street I am concerned to make sure I wait until there are no cars - I show regard to reality - but I don't give it any worry. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you are either consumed by worry or are one of those strange beings who has the gift not to worry. I think the rest of us have to overcome it.

When I made the goal I knew it would take a multi-pronged approach. I knew I'd have to have more faith in God. He told us not to worry in Matthew 6 when he said,

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

So my first approach would be an increase in faith. I'd trust that the Lord knows that I have need of all those things and I'd let him take care of the morrow.

My second approach would be good old fashioned mind control. Though I knew I needed help on this one. I have the scriptures to help me with the first approach - I needed some guidance for this second one. So I turned to the local library and searched everything from fear to anxiety to worry. Most of the books looked silly and I wasn't sure if I could wade through them all to find one that would really be true. I saw "The Secret" and thought that might fit and also saw another right before I ended my search.

It caught my eye because it is written by Dale Carnegie. I love him and think he really knows his stuff. He also wrote back in the first part of the twentieth century before a lot of hogwash entered the scene in the form of psychiatry trying to load you up with drugs so they can load up their wallets with cash. Anyhow, it is called, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." Silly title, eh? It's one of those books you'd feel silly reading in a public place. Probably because you worry what other will think of you!

So, I won't go into it too much because every line in that book is essential and moving. But it is really really good. It's like the cooler, smarter, older brother of "The Secret". It takes you through all the different kinds of worry with tons of people talking about how they overcame worry against serious odds and how it changed them. And then tells you real world application and "how to" steps. Something most books don't do. And it is that kind of stuff that keeps making me have epiphany's, you know? It should be required reading. But you don't have to take my word for it... (reading rainbow, anyone?)

Take no thought for tomorrow, or yesterday, because they aren't today. Live JUST FOR TODAY. Click here to see what I just read and to see what that means.