This month marks one year that I have been a regular church goer. This is a big thing for me. While I have always considered myself a Christian and a spiritual person church is not something that comes easy to me. Sadly I still feel a certain level of anxiety before I go, but I like Epic Church enough to keep going back. This is a great thing for me because having faith is a huge facilitator to Chasing Joy. Believing in something bigger than yourself (for me that is God) allows us to believe that things can change and get better. Faith allows us to have hope. Faith based practices like attending church, reading scripture or devotionals, and prayer reinforce our faith and therefore our hope. Attending Church also helps with that building the community you need thing that I was talking about a couple weeks ago.
Anyway, I am happy to have been attending Epic for a year now. Over the last year I have shared a few things that I learned or was inspired by at Church. I call them Epic Tales. This week's Epic Tale gave me a new reason why having some sort of Faith is a great asset when Chasing Joy. Prior to the sermon they showed a video of someone giving a personal testimony about how much better she feels and happier she is an why she was ready for baptism. One thing she said really stood out and hit home with me. She said she no longer felt like she had to micro-manage her life.
This was the message meant for me yesterday. I like to be and feel in control. Not really of other people but in control of myself and my surroundings. This is why I never really drank until I was out of college, why I over analyze things, and hate roller skating and skiing. I like to feel in control of my actions, body, and circumstances at all times. This has been an asset to me in some ways as it has kept me out of some trouble. However it does me a huge disservice at other times. The reality is no one can control everything. In trying to do so I have caused myself extra stress, lack of sleep, and many pounds worth of emotional eating. I need to stop. We all need to fall back on our faith, trust that God is in control and stop micro-managing our lives.
Do you have control issues like moi? Are you trying to micro-manage your life? Do you have a Faith practice that aids you in Chasing Joy.
