Pray, Don't Worry!
It’s still a mystery how a small white object no bigger than a pear can determine the outcome of my days. We’ve been in professional baseball for thirty-eight years and I’m finally getting it right. I say finally because if you could watch a video of my reaction to the curveballs we’ve experienced in the game, you might wonder if I’m an academy award winning actress—I’m that dramatic!
The cries, the moans, the fretting and the worry that we might end up on the side of a highway with no team to call our own. Oh…for the love of the game! How I wish I could get back all the hours I wasted on worry.
My favorite author says, “It’s not only wrong to worry, it’s infidelity, because worrying means we don’t think God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it’s never anything else that worries us.” I’ve really had to think about this. Why am I more apt to cheat on God than trust him? Why have I let baseball throw me into a tailspin when I know my life is in the Lord’s safe hands?
The truth is, lots about life in the game is out of our control--and as women, we naturally like to be in control. I’ve finally come to the realization I can worry or I can pray. Worry restates negative trust in fearful outcomes. It’s the belief the “what ifs” in life might swallow us whole.
What if my husband gets hurt and can’t perform?
What if my kids are damaged from so many moves?
What if we can’t make it on a minor league salary?
What if our marriage can’t stand the pressure of the game?
What if we never realize our dreams?
The surest way to fight worry is to turn what ifs into what is. Jesus made a profound statement when he said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
Essentially, he’s telling us to take all the energy we waste on worry and begin to ask, seek and knock instead. I realized years ago that a lot of what I thought was prayer, was really worry with “God words” at the beginning and the end. “Dear Father, worry, worry, worry, worry…In Jesus’ name. Amen.” The trouble is, it can be hard to know how to shift from worry to actual prayer. Here’s a proven way as we look at worry through the lens of the “ask, seek, knock” method Jesus teaches.
ASK Think about what worries you the most. Once you’ve identified your worry, frame it in an ASK prayer. For me, it’s the fact we have no job. We’re between teams and waiting to hear about a big-league job after 7 years as a AAA manager. Instead of fretting about what could happen if we don’t get a new contract fast…I’m praying like this: Lord, I know you can do all things and with you nothing is impossible. I also know you are a rewarder of those who have faith, so in complete trust, I’m asking you to provide the right job in the right city on the right team. I refuse to worry, and expectantly hope in the outcome you’ve designed. Amen.
How refreshing it is to build faith rather than wallow in worry. Worry produces fear and an anxious heart while prayer postures us in hope.
Asking is just the first phase of replacing worry. The next phase comes from seeking and knocking. Most answers don’t come in an instant. They take time. Seeking and knocking means we commit to prayer until our answers come.
SEEKING AND KNOCKING The maturity process in a woman demands we don’t insist on our way the instant we have a need or fear. We learn to trust God in the seeking and knocking phases of life; there’s no way around it. When Bobby retired and went into coaching, we thought our trek back to the majors would be quick and easy. It took sixteen years! During that time I learned what it meant to seek God’s will and knock until either the doors were opened or finally slammed shut. In the seeking and knocking phase of prayer we determine to grow above getting what we demand. During our years of seeking and knocking God was cleansing Bobby and I of destructive patterns in our thinking and reacting. He strengthened our marriage and brought many to a relationship with Him through our circumstances and obedience. When serving and loving God becomes more important than getting our way—we’ve learned how to pray through seeking and knocking.
Friends—baseball may be uncertain but praying to a dependable God is the most certain thing we’ll ever do. Instead of wringing our hands in worry, let’s lift them in confident prayer. It’s time that little round ball learned who’s really in charge. If Jesus told us to ask, seek and knock rather than worry—it’s game on. Let’s do just that.
