worry less so you can live more

Worry Less So You Can

Live MoreSUR PR ISING, SIMPLE WAYS

TO FEEL MOR E PEACE ,

JOY, A ND ENERGY

Jane Rubietta

7(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

Rubietta_WorryLessLiveMore_EC_kf.indd 5 12/8/14 1:45 PM

Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

2015 by Jane Rubietta

Published by Bethany House Publishers11400 Hampshire Avenue SouthBloomington, Minnesota 55438www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division ofBaker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataRubietta, Jane.

Worry less so you can live more : surprising, simple ways to feel more peace, joy, and energy / Jane Rubietta.

pages cmIncludes bibliographical references.Summary: Invites women to leave behind anxiety and worry to experience

life, delight, and rest in God, who cares for them moment by moment. Includes discussion questions and journaling prompts Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-7642-1265-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. WorryReligious aspects

Christianity. 3. AnxietyReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.BV4527.R826 2015248.8 43dc23 2014041494

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quota-tions are from the Holy Bible, New Interna-tional Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked the message are from The Message by Eugene H. Peter-son, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked cev are from the Contemporary English Version 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked niv1984 are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW IN-TERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by per-mission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked nlt are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,

copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked esv are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (esv), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publish-ers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. esv Text Edition: 2007

Scripture quotations marked kjv are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked nkjv are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Greg Jackson, Thinkpen Design, Inc.

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

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Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

For Bonnie,

Who shared her owers

And listened

Always directing my heart

To God

(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

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Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

I want to thank all the people over the years

who have shared my life

and shared their stories with me:

your fears, your laughter, your hope, and your faith.

Thank you for being those

who continue to trust your lives

to the God who is unseen.

(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

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Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

11

Contents

Reader Beware 13

Introduction 15

1. Wearing Wildowers 23

The Tool of Play

2. Wearing Red Shoes: Trading Worry

for Whimsy 36

The Tool of Nurture

3. The Forget-Me-Not God 50

The Tool of Memory

4. Boxed In . . . But Climbing Out 64

The Tool of Breaking Free

5. Bread of the Presence 77

The Tool of Constancy

6. Wildower Salsa 90

The Tool of Movement

7. Watered by Tears 103

The Tool of Tears

8. The Silent Walk 115

The Tool of Empathy

(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

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Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

12

Contents

9. Dance of the Fireies 128

The Tool of Spontaneity

10. School Pictures 141

The Tool of Identity

11. Fly Crew 155

The Tool of Trust

12. Can I Really? 169

The Tool of Progress

13. Life at the D-I-Y House 184

The Tool of Anticipation

Notes 201

About the Author 205

(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

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Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

13

Reader Beware

These are at times whimsical but thoughtful musings of a journey

toward wholeness, toward worrying less and living more. They are

not a doctrinal dissertation, nor a theological tome. If you feel you

have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, suXer from panic attacks, or

deal with other serious problems, then please seek professional

help, and take this book with you.

Worry Less So You Can Live More is not intended to solve the

problems of the world or represent an argument for any particular

camp; it is not an exegesis of a particular book in the Bible. I dont

think we need more knowledge, necessarily, although that is not

a bad thing. But knowledge cannot substitute for the brilliance of

being loved by God.

This journey has dragged me through thistle and briar patch,

and along the way I have found that women everywhere struggle

with similar issues: of trust, of exhaustion, of longing, always

with both the overarching minor descant and bass line of worry.

We mostly feel a little bit lost in the heaviness of the struggle. It

is a pleasure to know that en route, our wildower-throwing God

waits with delight to surprise us and love us.

So please dont send me angry letters arguing about my priori-

ties in a world that is dying. Im afraid that we are dying, as well.

If we are dead, we are useless to this world. And God calls us to do

(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

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Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

14

Reader Beware

more than just stay alive until Jesus returns for us. God wants us to

live more, and worry less, and along the way, to live in his delight.

Worry Less So You Can Live More is my attempt to relinquish

my worry-wrinkled soul, to encounter the delight of God and the

God of delight, and to share my ndings with others.

(Unpublished manuscriptcopyright protected Baker Publishing Group)

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Jane Rubietta, Worry Less So You Can Live MoreBethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

15

Introduction

The lightning bugs called our names in the dusk, their mysterious

invitational glow rising up from the dewy grass of early summer.

Fun jammed most every day. We made mud pies, laughed until our

sides hurt, lay down in the eld behind my house, and created cata-

pults from the tall weeds with their little bullet-shaped seed heads.

Long before the classic Indiana-based cycling movie Breaking

Away hit our VCRs (actually before VCRs were perhaps even in-

vented), we pedaled our bikes with a ferocity that could overtake

the greatest Olympian, up and down the rolling hills of southern

Indiana. On boiling hot days, we ran down the rocky driveway

barefoot, squatted over the hot pavement, and popped tar bubbles

with sticks and pointy stones. We swallowed peanut butter sand-

wiches or grilled cheeses and the requisite carrot sticks with our

legs jiggling and feet tapping to get back outside. Hours later we

rushed back inside for dinner, skidding into our seats at the table

after a fast hands-and-face washing and pulling a comb through

play-tangled mops of hair. Afterward, we each raced back outside

and reassembled as though called by an inaudible whistle. When

dusk approached, we stacked cans to kick, and chased each other