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WINNING WITH THE WORD by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God's principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God's manual for life. AN INVITATION TO YOU: To follow this blog, click here.   If this blog has blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! ______________________________________ Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below on the PODCAST LINK to today's blog post: PODCAST: "YOU CAN CONQUER WORRY!" by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio ______________________________________   Today we're going to be exploring a very common problem, one that affects a lot of people in varying degrees. In every case, however, this problem ends up in some way hurting them and those close to them. What am I referring to? I am referring to the problem of worry.  Are you a worrier? Do you find yourself dreading the future, wondering what bad thing is going to happen next? Are you continually uptight about your finances, your health, your marriage, your children, your job?--to the point that you have a hard time relaxing and having fun? Well, if you answered yes to any of these questions, I have good news for you! You can conquer worry! We all know that with anything we wish to accomplish in life, we have to start with a desire to accomplish it. The same is true of conquering worry. You have to want to conquer worry before you can begin doing so. Now, you may be wondering: Who would not want to conquer worry? After all, worry robs us of peace and joy and keeps us in a constant state of inner turmoil. You may be surprised to learn that there are many people who, deep down inside, do not really want to conquer worry. Strange as it may seem, worry has become for them a sort of status symbol, a sign of "responsibility." In other words, these people feel important when they worry. Or, for some people, worry is like an old shoe. They've grown comfortable with it and are reluctant to part with it. In fact, some people absolutely refuse to part with worry. It has become so much of a habit in their lives that they cannot imagine living without it. Still, other people hang on to worry because it is a means of drawing attention to themselves. They feel so insecure about themselves that they resort to unhealthful behavior patterns to affirm their worth. By worrying, they attract the attention of others and, in a sick way, that attention satisfies their need for affirmation. All of the examples I've just given are obstacles that keep us from conquering worry. To achieve any level of success and freedom in life, we have to be willing to part with those things that are holding us back. In other words, we have to move out of our comfort zones--and I'm not saying this is easy to do--but it's absolutely necessary if we are to grow. We have to push through the pain of growth, because on the other side of the pain, we will find freedom. The same is no less true of conquering the worry habit. You have to want to conquer worry before you can conquer it. Okay. Let's assume that you truly want to conquer worry. What then? Well, the next step is to make a decision to conquer worry. You can have all the desire in the world to conquer worry, but unless you decide to do something about it, nothing will happen. Let me give you a simple illustration. Most of us at some point in our lives have struggled with losing weight. For instance, after I had my second child, I weighed ten pounds more than I weighed before I became pregnant. For years, I kept saying, "I want to lose these ten pounds. I have to lose these ten pounds." I kept expressing the desire to lose those ten pounds, but I never made the decision to lose them. Consequently, those ten pounds stayed around right where I didn't want them. Every time I looked in the mirror, there they were,