Possible Reasons for My Recent Stress

Most of you who really know me must have wondered about how stressed I’ve been the past two weeks or so. You have all seen me go through many, many of life’s issues and always wait for the Lord to work it out. Yes, I’ve asked for prayers before. But when I look back over the past two weeks or so, I can almost sense a touch of panic in there. That’s not at all like me. I wondered about it.

I think I know the answer.

In life, I usually do not worry much about what happens to me personally, or to my body and its health. God always covers me on that.

However, I seem to really worry when something touches on the safety of my car or my home. I’m not sure why. I know God understands about those things.

What I’ve noticed is that contractors and mechanics seem to know how to push our panic buttons.

Just let a mechanic hint or outright state that whatever he says is wrong with our car must be done immediately or we are in danger when we drive, and we buy his story. 

My car has been a problem ever since we took it off the used car lot 4 years ago. In all that time, we’ve had troubles. Replaced the engine; replaced the radiator; did work on struts, axle, brakes, and more. However, this time a mechanic I’d never used before made me feel my tie rods are so bad they will ruin the new set of tires I have not even paid for yet. That struck me where I’m vulnerable. A friend might take care of the tie rods for me. But I think I’ll back it up by taking it to my usual guy next week, just to be sure this mechanic with the tie rod story was right. I realize my friend might have changed his mind about doing them. I completely understand things like that. But right now, I only have that one mechanic’s word for it. Time to get the second opinion. My mechanic won't charge me to check it, and he'll be honest without terrifying me with his opinion.

The other issue, the house, that’s another story. Two different plumbers made it sound like my pipes would burst any moment. That really frightened me. Long story short (you’ve all read about it over the past week or two), I’ve got someone coming tomorrow to do a replacement of just the bad pipes, not the whole system.

The whole thing is - car mechanics and contractors (plumbers, electricians, etc.) can scare the daylights out of us with just a few words. I hated how stressed this all made me. But it did teach me a lesson. This, too, is under God’s care - I will try to not let myself get that frightened or worried again. It is not worth it.

Father, you know all things. You created all things. You created our people who have manufactured parts in our homes and cars. So there’s no reason for me to block you and your help with my worry when something goes wrong.  Fill me with your peace and love and a total sense of security in your care for when these things happen in the future. And they will - life is like that.