Test Anxiety Revisited

I can't believe February is almost gone... that was my buffer month... now, with it gone, I have to face March head on.

It sounds crazy, I know.  The thing is that I have my thyroid check ups coming up in March; and that all too familiar test anxiety is threatening me again.  I usually start worrying about this in January; but this year I had February as my buffer zone, so when January came, I was able to remind myself that there was still February.  Now...

Sigh...

I have to admit that this year the Holy Spirit has kept my emotions in check.  When anxious thoughts came to my mind, my Faithful Companion and Counselor would replace them with words of trust and peace.  These preliminary anxious thoughts, as I call them, have felt like chapter tests.  At work, I give students chapter tests at the end of each chapter in our textbook.  So far, which each passing month, I have been able to get good/decent scores in those chapter tests. I'm dreading the final exam, though.

Then, I read my devotional this morning and, as a helpful study guide (I give my students comprehensive study guides before every test, and they seem to think they are helpful... : ) my Divine Teacher takes me through a brief review of the issue in preparation for the exam:  "Your gravest danger is worrying about tomorrow.  If you try to carry tomorrow's burdens today, you will stagger under the load and eventually fall flat.  You must discipline yourself to live within the boundaries of today..." (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)

Lord, You know my heart...countless times You've seen me fall flat on my face, not in worship, as it should be...but in worry...bowing down to fear and stress.  Today, I pray You will give me what I need in order to travel through these days in peace, trusting You, knowing You are with me always.  I know that worry is born out of unbelief.  Please, Lord, help me get rid of my unbelief.  Lead my path so I can walk by faith and not by sight.  Show me how to keep my focus on You and on today, not on my problems or in the future.  Teach me the lesson in a way my troubled mind can finally learn it and I can ACE the final test:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6: 33-34

March will be here in a couple of blinks.  The day of my check up is approaching fast.  I trust that this time around, rather than panicking and stressing out, I will seek refuge in His Word and in His Promises, for they are new every morning...

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41: 10

In the Precious Name of Jesus...Amen!