I’ve developed some minor physical symptoms recently. After a Google search and self-diagnosis, I’m pretty sure none of them are life-threatening. However, these are the kind of things that I usually worry about incessantly, following up by wasting little time in making an appointment with the appropriate specialist.
In reflecting deeper on this one morning in prayer after these physical symptoms started, I recognized it is not really the symptoms themselves that cause me anguish. It is actually the mental suffering that comes from worrying about worst-case scenarios about the causes of these symptoms.
This time was no different. I began to worry incessantly about these symptoms and what could be causing them.
Then, it was as if something inside me flipped a switch. All of a sudden, I got very frustrated about how anxious I get over things like this. I realized in that moment that God doesn’t want this for me. He doesn’t desire, nor is it part of His will, that I experience anxiety over things like this—or anything!
How many times does He say in Scripture, “Do not be afraid” and “Do not fear”? Ultimately, the only fear we should have is “fear of the Lord,” and the word fear in this context does not have the same meaning we usually attribute to it. In this context, fear means “awe” and “wonder” of our God that leads us to peace and the utter trust that our Heavenly Father will take care of us.
Yes, Jesus does not want me to fear—over small things or big, life-changing ones. He wants me to live in His peace. He wants me to live with childlike trust and simplicity, knowing my Heavenly Father has all my cares and concerns taken care of. In short, He wants me to live, truly live, with freedom from all worry and anxiety.
I just so happened around this time to be reading a true treasure of a book, Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence by Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade. In one of this priest’s letters to a nun, he offered her a short prayer to help her trust more completely in God’s Divine will. He shared with her that we should all trust that everything that happens is a part of God’s will—whether it be His ordained will or His permissive will (what He allows to happen for a divine purpose, even if that purpose is one we may never understand until we get to heaven).
Here is the short prayer he shared in his letter to this nun that has changed my life:
Lord, I offer all to You. I abandon to You all my wretched anxieties. Whatever pleases you, whatever you wish, may that happen.
The next day, I decided to make an appointment with my doctor. After the appointment was scheduled, I began to become anxious again for all the usual reasons. Then the switch flipped again, and I decided to pray this prayer leading up to and during the appointment. Every time I started to get anxious, I prayed this prayer.
I noticed an interesting change happening inside of me. Whenever I got to the words “Whatever pleases you,” I began to smile and have joy in my heart because I knew that God would be pleased with whatever the outcome was. If what would happen, whatever that would be, delighted Him, then how could I not also be pleased?
With this new experience of joy, I found the physical pain from the symptoms I was experiencing became very little or nothing to bear, and the anxiety I was experiencing subsided.
I welcomed the waiting period before the visit, the doctor’s visit itself, and the diagnosis and treatment, knowing it all would please my Savior.
I then offered up all my physical pain and any anxiety that still remained for the emotional and spiritual healing of my family, which is something I’ve felt called to pray more for lately. In that moment, my suffering became meaningful; it became healing.
I have continued to pray this prayer periodically throughout each day. I have found this prayer helpful not just with things that typically cause anxiety, but even with everyday mundane tasks or exciting new opportunities that come my way. Even with these things, anxiety can creep in if I’m not careful.
Lord, I offer all to You. I abandon to You all my wretched anxieties. Whatever pleases you, whatever you wish, may that happen.
This beautiful little prayer continues to bring a smile to my heart each time I finish praying it. To know my Savior is pleased is enough to make me joyfully accept my cross with all the love of my heart.
Beautiful prayer. Thank you for sharing! I needed to read this. I needed this prayer. Thank you
I am so happy this prayer has helped you. I say it many times each day myself. It has truly brought me so much peace. May God bless you today and always!