Category Archives: worry

How to Seek God

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Writing a book opens all kinds of doors.  And I love that.  More coaching clients, invitations to speak, seminars to present, and book signings to do. Opportunities to witness the move of God in the hearts and minds of so many new, as well as old friends.

I get so excited when the opportunity gets presented… and then, a few days, or the night before the event… a dread falls upon me.  I want to run away, disappear, and go into hiding.

At first, I thought something was wrong, or maybe I’m not supposed to do this, or…. and then, doubt about who I am takes over, and I even lose sight of why I’m doing this.  Quite frankly, it almost overwhelms me!

Has this ever happened to you, or is it just me?

And what is this dread about?

For me, imagined fears of being a failure, or being alone, of feeling like I’m ineffective, inadequate, and non-essential.  Old yukky thoughts still wanting to block and stop me from carrying out the mission God has placed within me.

But…ha-ha!   God is making me savvy.  I see the wiley ways of the enemy who stands to accuse and oppose me.

God is making me smart.  He exposes the plot, and reminds me who I am, and why I do what I do.


He shows me the thoughts that create the feeling of dread are not the thoughts of a highly favored woman of God, co-heir of the King, esteemed and deeply loved child of a Father who has said He would do “whatsoever” I ask.

He uses these times to train me, mentor me, and power me up.  I am then led to speak my agreement with Him.


“Yes, Lord, You are mighty and I am highly favored.  I am blessed to be a blessing.  In You, I am not a failure.  In You, I am not ineffective.  You have chosen me for such a time as this!  When I enter that arena, I will be full of Your love, wisdom, and anything else I need because You are faithful. You are already there, and at the same time, I bring You with me. Flow through me, and touch whoever needs Your touch.  I am grateful and excited to showcase Your love, Your favor, and Your energy.  Thank you for choosing me.”

Well, I am happy to report, the seminar I conducted after my last tangle with dread was sheer delight.  The Lord showed up in a marvelous way as He gave me the courage to transparently tell my embarrassing stories.   All the pieces of the study fell into place, and the ladies responded as baby birds, mouths wide open, hungry for what God was revealing.  It was apparent to all that He was there, at work, inspiring, motivating, and encouraging.  As a friend quoted from Veggie Tales, “I laughed. I cried.  It really touched me, Bob.”  Cute.

Consciously flowing in the favor of God could not happen if I did not “seek” Him.  Not some religious ritual, perfunctorily performed and then checked off, seeking Him is as simple as sharing our secrets with an intimate friend, or relaxing over coffee with a deeply interested relative.


And yet, there is a profundity to seeking Him, where He shares with us the inner workings of His heart and mind.  How secure He makes me feel knowing that every need I have, He has the answer and solution.

Where I once had difficulty carving out time to sit with Him because of all I had to get done, I now am so addicted to it, that everything else gets ordered around this part of my day.   Oh, how much easier, more productive, and satisfying life is!! For those of you who know what I’m talking about… let us rejoice together!

For the rest, oh, how I want that for you!

And so, I asked the Lord to speak to you today, and here is what He said,


“Come to Me as you are.  I know the details of your life intimately.   And I care about it all.  You don’t have to know anything other than I desire you and you desire me.  Sit with Me, and let Me show you My love.  Close your eyes, and look into Mine.  Do you see My delight for you?  You are My heartthrob.  You are My joy.  I know everything in your mind, your heart, your circumstances.. I know it all. I see the good in you, and all are trying to accomplish.  I see your fears, too. Come, let Me show you that I am on your side.

I desire to work with and through you, to give you ideas and what you need to accomplish them.  (I see the Lord lift up your face, and a radiant glow illuminates it, as He says…) I have things worked out for you.  Sit and rest awhile, and then follow my lead and I will show you the path.”

At that point the Lord held you close, until you were almost totally absorbed into Him.  Oh, the sweet satisfaction in His eyes as He held you!

How do we seek God?  Just show up, be ready to receive, and have a conversation.  He is waiting with eagerness and joy.


Have an amazing week!

How To NOT Worry Part 2

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I hope you had a stellar weekend!  It’s that time of year here where the leaves are turning those beautiful shades of gold, red, and brown.  Love it!


 So, you recall in a previous post I proposed that we can greatly reduce (dare I say, eliminate??) worry by not doing anything different than we are already doing, but rather, change our FOCUS.

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight,  O, Lord, my Rock (Strength) and my Redeemer.” Ps 19:14

We want the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts to be acceptable in the sight of God. But what is that?

What are those words and meditations that God finds acceptable?


Oh, my — the answer could be a very long and drawn out one… but let’s make it simple today.. …. anything that AGREES with God and His heart and intention for you.

Here I’ll choose one for you today … Next time you find yourself worrying about something you have said or done, or something you failed to say or do, and you are now worried about the consequences of that – meditate on this truth:

you are the righteousness of God in Christ.

Do not be tempted to think of this in only doctrinal terms… this is real!

Being His righteousness means that you are filled with everything that is deemed right by God. Indeed, it is WHO YOU ARE!

You have the right heart, the right thoughts, the right solutions, the right wisdom, the right attitude, the right power, the right authority to use that power, the right creativity…. need I go on?

Because of Christ, it is all there within you. Meditating on this truth and speaking it out loud, will RELEASE it into your mind, your heart, and in your circumstances.  Faith will rise. You will find the right and favorable outcome to the thing you are concerned about.  If you need to change your heart and mind about something, you will know that and doing it will come easier.  But don’t dwell in that position!  Move on.

Worry will only cloud your judgment and confuse your efforts.  This kind of worry also causes us to doubt ourselves and that makes us feel insecure and unstable.

By declaring that you are God’s righteousness, you will put the devil on notice that you can not be accused and condemned because you are all right with God and He is all right with you!

And if God is for you, who can be against you!  Being His righteousness entitles you to all kinds of benefits, not the least of which is the authority to use His power.

So, rather than use the power He has given you to worry, use it for good. Meditate on life giving thoughts and speak life giving words.

If you would write and tell me what you are going to meditate and speak on this week, I would love it!  If you want me to hold you accountable, let me know.  I will be happy to do so!


 Always in YOUR corner, Maryann

What? Me worry?

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Ok, for today.. Can we all agree that what we think about, meditate and focus on, gives energy to that thing we are focusing on.

If we meditate on negative what ifs, that is called worry, right?  The more we worry about something, the more we give life to and increase in the thing we are worried about.

Wouldn’t you agree, that is the EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE WANT?

Now, I realize that many times the things we worry about never, ever happen.  In fact, we often feel silly worrying because many times that thing we worry about has never happened, and never will.

Even so, our bodies don’t know the difference between a “real” worry and a false one.  Worry produces a chemical reaction in our bodies that without question, over time, produces harmful effects on our hearts, nerves, hormones, and immune system.

Jesus tells us to not worry.

(Mt 6:25 – 34) Psalm 37: 7-9 tells us to not fret because it only leads to harm and evil doing.

How can a mother who worries about her children be engaged in evil doing?  What could be harmful about that?  How about the economy and the scarcity of work?  How does worrying produce harm or evil doing?

Well, besides the harm to our bodies as I mentioned before, worry causes many of us to try and control everything and everyone around us.  It can also cause us to sin – steal, lie, cheat, envy, covet…. just to name a few!

Now, I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.  And I’m sure you don’t try and justify your worry by the magnitude of your circumstances. LOL.   But humor me…

First, how do we not worry?

We all know that trying to stop ourselves from worrying isn’t helpful.  We can’t stop worrying by focusing on NOT worrying. Again, we energize that which we focus on.


We further add “life” to our worries when we repeatedly talk about it!  Speaking about all the negative things going on in our lives adds further energy to them!

So… what do we do instead?

Well, I submit to you we don’t change our DOING, we change our FOCUS.


Again, what brings worry?  Meditating on and speaking about the negatives, the negative what ifs, and what we don’t want to happen.  As I have told you all before, I was the Queen of Worry, but I know many of you have shared that title with me!

I say, since we already know how to mediate, focus, and talk… why not meditate, focus and talk about what does not produce worry?? We all know we are quite skilled at talking, but we are also skilled at meditation, whether we realize it or not!

Let’s not use these skills to our disadvantage, but to our advantage!

So, rather than change our DOING, we need to change our FOCUS.

On what shall we focus, meditate, and speak?  What does the word tell us?

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight,  O, Lord, my Rock (strength) and my Redeemer.” Ps 19:14


Check back for…
What are those words and meditations that God finds acceptable?

By the way, thanks to those of you who sent me your breakthrough requests.  I will be following up with you soon!!

Always in YOUR corner,
Maryann