If worry were a sport, we’d all be the MVP of our team.  Can anyone identify with this?  It’s hard not to with our current troubles all around us.  When we worry, we torment ourselves.  No one else is making us do it.  We do it to ourselves.  When we worry, we allow ourselves to be consumed by actual things we can’t control and even potential situations that may never come to pass.  Worry causes stress to our body, prevents us from getting a good night’s sleep, impacts our relationships, affects our appetites and prevents from doing the daily necessities of life.  When we worry, we look for ways to cope.  Many of us choose denial, others may turn to substance abuse or fall back into destructive habits they thought they had defeated.  Most of us choose something.  But they don’t work.  The more we worry, the more it occupies our mind.  And each worrisome thought is like throwing fuel on our “worry” fire.  What we sometimes don’t realize is that we only have so much emotional, mental and physical energy to use each day.  Don’t let worry burn you out.  Pray and don’t let worry take over your life.  And if praying isn’t your thing, try it anyway.  What have you got to lose?  “Worry weighs a person down, but an encouraging word cheers up a person.”  Proverbs 12:25  Encourage each other and be encouraged in return.