<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[God Girl with Hayley DiMarco]]></title><description><![CDATA[A confessional theologian in the wild, I write from the experiment of surrender, anxiety, and lived faith, field-testing theology in real time.]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LxvD!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbeab4a03-e78f-424d-922a-d4744290fb94_1063x1063.png</url><title>God Girl with Hayley DiMarco</title><link>https://www.godgirl.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 10:29:38 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.godgirl.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Hungry Planet]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[hayleydimarco@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[hayleydimarco@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[hayleydimarco@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[hayleydimarco@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[A Woman’s Work Is Never Done]]></title><description><![CDATA[and when your work is never done, your rest is never started]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/a-womans-work-is-never-done-why-christian-women-struggle-to-rest</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/a-womans-work-is-never-done-why-christian-women-struggle-to-rest</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2026 14:02:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png" width="1456" height="1048" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Dx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1822d-7f7a-44c9-8f76-6d0c2be95c06_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>When I think of the week, I <strong>see it as a loop</strong>, not a calendar you flip as you progress day to day. I see it more <strong>like a racetrack without a finish line</strong>. Monday is the starting line, but Sunday just brings you right back to that same starting line, and <strong>you just keep racing and racing without an end</strong> in sight.</p><p>I don&#8217;t know if this is a decidedly female way to think about time, or if it&#8217;s just a Hayley way, but I do believe it explains the nervous system of any woman who has said to themselves or their family, &#8220;<em>A woman&#8217;s work is never done.</em>&#8221; And I believe this is a significant reason why women tend to struggle more with anxiety than men do. Once we tell ourselves that our work has no finish line, our nervous system, designed for finish lines, sees perpetual work as unsafe and, therefore, anxiety-creating.</p><p>My husband once asked a group, &#8220;<em>What do you think is the three-word verse that most men would say is their favorite?</em>&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;<em>It is finished.</em>&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;<em>What do you think is the favorite verse of most women?</em>&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;<em>Does it have to literally be a verse? Or can it be, &#8216;A woman&#8217;s work is never done?&#8217;&#8221;</em> Literally.</p><p>That is comical and convicting, especially in light of the fact that in order to have real peace, the human nervous system needs to see a finish line. I mean, work is tolerable as long as you can see an off-ramp in the foreseeable future, but when there <em>are</em> no off-ramps in sight, we just keep a running to-do list that never ever gets cleared and freaking out attempting it. In this view of life, everything is cyclical when it should be linear.</p><p>If you spend your mental presence looping over and over and over again in a stress-inducing cycle of service, at that point, your nervous system will start to treat the situation of your life like a permanent threat condition instead of a temporary demand, and chronic anxiety will be your chronic companion.</p><p>Unfortunately, most of our work has no real ending. There is no &#8220;<em>It is finished</em>&#8221; to the emotional vigilance required to keep the people you love happy, while at the same time managing everything else.</p><p>In truth, these aren&#8217;t individual tasks; they are one perpetual race. And then when you add boundaryless labor to moral obligation for good measure, and well, because you can, then attach your identity to it, you end up stuck in your own fight-or-flight club. And, like the original, no one talks about it.</p><p>As long as our work is never done, we end up roaming the savannah like an injured wildebeast separated from her pack, running from one room to the next, trying to escape a hungry lion. And, guess what. From a biological standpoint, your body doesn&#8217;t know the difference between a woman who never rests and a woman who is being chased by a deadly predator. You are both.</p><p>My conclusion? This is what practicing omnipotence feels like when you&#8217;re an impotent creature. And I know of which I speak. I&#8217;ve been living under the false premise that I need omnipotence in order for my world to run smoothly for decades. Saying I trust in an all-powerful God, yet having his back in all things, to-do list oriented. I mean, God doesn&#8217;t have time for all that, right? That lands squarely on <em>my</em> shoulders. Or so I thought.</p><p>If I were Jesus, I never would have gone to the cross because I couldn&#8217;t bring myself to say it was finished. I&#8217;d want one more swing at getting the word out; I&#8217;d feel uncomfortable leaving people unhealed and unsaved. I&#8217;d think this woman&#8217;s work is not done.</p><p>But when Jesus said, &#8220;<em>It is finished</em>,&#8221; almost nothing was finished. Rome was still in power. People still hated Him. His followers were weak, terrified, and running. Suffering still ruled people&#8217;s lives, and death still had its power. The world was not restored.</p><p>But He stopped.</p><p>He stopped.</p><p>Would my makeup allow me to do that? I am afraid not. Excruciating death on a cross aside, just leaving things unfinished would drive me crazy.</p><p>I only feel comfortable resting once I can achieve resolution, which is probably why <a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control">faith has always felt inefficient</a> to me. Once the counter is clear, the inbox is empty, and my people are asleep. Once my relationship feels stable and the future feels predictable, I can be happy. I mean, as long as nothing is about to fall apart, I can start to breath but still, I cannot possibly say, &#8220;It is finished&#8221; because I know it all starts over again tomorrow. No end in sight.</p><p>But maybe I&#8217;m confusing faithfulness with omnipotence, flipping the job description between me and God.</p><p>Mine is omnipotence: His is faithfulness.</p><p>Feels right.</p><p>And that is just wrong.</p><p>Seems that my to-do list isn&#8217;t just a list but my resume for Godhood. Me trying to <em>Jesus</em> my way through my plans, but without the actual power or call to back it up.</p><p>It&#8217;s a sickness, really, this need to micromanage God. As if the Creator of the universe is up there biting His nails, waiting for me to finally organize the pantry so He can get some real work done.</p><p>But when I try to <em>Jesus</em> my way through my day, I&#8217;m not being holy; it&#8217;s not &#8220;<em>what would Jesus do,</em>&#8221; it&#8217;s delulu. I&#8217;m staying awake all night trying to keep the planet spinning, as if my insomnia is the only thing holding the solar system together. I live with the delusions of grandeur disguised as a servant heart. I think I&#8217;m being a good girl, but I&#8217;m actually just a really bad God.</p><p>I&#8217;m starting to see that the most spiritual thing I can do today isn&#8217;t to pray more or serve more or fix one more thing, it&#8217;s to look at the half-finished, the un-repaired, and the to-be-continued and just&#8230; quit. <strong>Does that feel as wrong, and yet so right, to you as it does to me?</strong></p><p>Face it, if I wait for resolution to rest, I&#8217;ll never rest this side of heaven. I&#8217;ve got to attempt the radical, terrifying &#8220;unfaithfulness&#8221; of leaving things undone, and trust that if I&#8217;m not there to take care of it, the world won&#8217;t actually implode.</p><p><strong>Maybe rest was never supposed to come from resolution in the first place.</strong></p><p>But, unfortunately, because <strong>we&#8217;ve tied rest to omniscience,</strong> we can&#8217;t stop.</p><p>&#8220;<em>It is finished</em>&#8221; feels so foreign in the mouth of a woman whose nervous system has spent years preparing for the total collapse of a system outside of her control.</p><p>Maybe the real question to ask isn&#8217;t, &#8220;<em>Is my work done?</em>&#8221; But can I believe God is still working when I am not? Thoughts to ponder.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/a-womans-work-is-never-done-why-christian-women-struggle-to-rest?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/a-womans-work-is-never-done-why-christian-women-struggle-to-rest?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/a-womans-work-is-never-done-why-christian-women-struggle-to-rest/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/a-womans-work-is-never-done-why-christian-women-struggle-to-rest/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Hidden Reason You Struggle to Trust God (And It Has Nothing to Do with Belief)]]></title><description><![CDATA[a 24-Hour efficiency fast]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/is-your-faith-too-efficient-24-hour-experiment-trust-god</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/is-your-faith-too-efficient-24-hour-experiment-trust-god</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:03:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png" width="1456" height="1048" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1048,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:953138,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/194815483?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9QP7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd0f0d98-13b7-4da1-97f1-408ea382168b_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>Do you tend to take control quickly and then justify it as just being more efficient? If you want something done right, do it yourself, after all. </p><p>Do you struggle with anxiety?</p><p>These tendencies often overlap with the unconscious assumption that trust, especially when it slows things down, isn&#8217;t a good use of your time, and that&#8217;s why faith <em>feels inefficient</em> to a mind trained to optimize.</p><p>You would probably never say those words out loud or even to yourself. But it shows up in how uncomfortable it feels to leave anything unresolved. Inefficiency doesn&#8217;t just bother you; it feels wrong. A little irresponsible, even, like you&#8217;re failing to do your part.</p><p>I first wrote about this idea last week, in my article, <em><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control">Is Your Faith Efficient</a></em><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control">?</a> And it has occurred to me since that this idea is more universal than I originally thought, but rarely, if ever, identified and dealt with.</p><p>So <strong>I&#8217;m running an experiment.</strong></p><p>For 24 hours, I&#8217;m stepping out of my instinct to be efficient, and I want to invite you to do it with me. I&#8217;m not suggesting this because efficiency is bad, but because, like me, you&#8217;ve may have been using it in places where it has been slowly replacing simple trust.</p><p>So for 24 hours, we are going to reject the need for control for efficiency&#8217;s sake in favor of letting go of what doesn&#8217;t actually belong to us, and learning what it looks like to pause long enough to ask whether this is actually ours to carry right now. </p><p>That means we aren&#8217;t going to:</p><p>Get rid of every unresolved thing the second you notice it.<br>Do something just because we can.<br>Or use speed to give a sense of relief.</p><p>You&#8217;re still going to show up, respond, and complete real responsibilities, but without solving things that were never assigned to you. And in that, I hope we will start to notice exactly how often we&#8217;ve been doing the exact opposite.</p><p>Before we start, we need one clear definition, or this will get muddy fast.</p><p>The version of efficiency we&#8217;re talking about is this: <strong>removing discomfort by taking control and creating closure.</strong></p><p>That&#8217;s the kind of efficiency we&#8217;re fasting from. Not wise action, responsibility, or diligence, just the reflex that says: &#8220;<em>I can make this feel better right now, so I&#8217;m gonna.&#8221;</em></p><p>For the next 24 hours, instead, we&#8217;re going to interrupt that reflex.</p><p>What follows is a 24-hour experiment that will show you exactly how often you&#8217;ve been choosing efficiency over trust, and what it looks like to interrupt it in real time.</p><p>For those who want to go deeper, what follows is the full structure of the experiment and how to actually run it  </p><p><strong>The Rules of the Fast</strong></p><p>These are not suggestions; these are the rules of the experiment.</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/is-your-faith-too-efficient-24-hour-experiment-trust-god">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Is Your Faith Efficient?]]></title><description><![CDATA[why trusting God feels inefficient when control works so well]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:03:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#127911; AUDIO: If you want to hear this one out loud, you can listen here.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png" width="1456" height="1048" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1048,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1083415,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/194434779?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPjx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db70bc4-6a4e-4713-b72c-336dbece23e7_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I love being in control. Being in control is efficient. If you want it done right, do it yourself, I always say.</p><p>Trust, like peace, is one of those interruptions to my plans. I&#8217;ve got things to do, people to see, places to be, and asking me to give up control is like telling me to let someone else load my dishwasher; they&#8217;ll never get it right.</p><p>I much prefer, and in fact <em>always</em> operate from a position of control, not just out of comfort, because yes, it is more comfortable, but it&#8217;s also more efficient. And I love efficiency. Time is as precious as gold, so why would I waste it?</p><p>Control is the part of me that makes sure I get my money&#8217;s worth out of time. And that&#8217;s being responsible: doing your best with the time you&#8217;ve been given. That&#8217;s why I manage my life the way your micro-managing boss manages your workflow. I mean, I don&#8217;t just manage my life, I hover over it, making sure it&#8217;s all getting done the way I want it done. My focus is on the outcome, and the outcome won&#8217;t come the way I want it to come if I don&#8217;t keep an eye on how it&#8217;s coming together.</p><p>That&#8217;s what makes trust so dangerous. Trust is like letting your three-year-old cut your hair. It&#8217;s like giving your teenager the keys to your brand-new car. Trust is not efficient, and it does not guarantee results.</p><p>The trouble with trust is that it doesn&#8217;t micromanage outcomes. It just lets things move forward without my input, which is crazy when you realize that everything depends on that input. That&#8217;s what makes trust inefficient. It doesn&#8217;t get things done in the time and way I want them done.</p><p>Control is not only practically efficient, but it&#8217;s also mentally efficient. If I&#8217;m in control, I don&#8217;t have to waste any time not knowing, rethinking, or fixing anything later. It takes much less energy for me to just do the things that need to be done than to let go and trust someone else with the outcomes. </p><p>So, of course, I move in the direction of control. And control and trust move in opposite directions. If you want control, it&#8217;s at the cost of trust. And in a staring match between control and trust, control wins out for me because it&#8217;s the path of least resistance; it costs me less. It&#8217;s the difference between driving home from the store and driving in a foreign country. My brain naturally wants the easier route.</p><p>Trust requires discernment, and discernment takes too much energy. Taking the time to slow down and redirect my thoughts from vigilance and preparation to hope and trust takes tremendous amounts of mental and emotional energy that I just can&#8217;t afford.</p><p>Control, now control, I can do that without even thinking. It takes low effort, and it gives me fast results with minimal friction. My brain loves that.</p><p>My ultimate goal is to minimize error, reduce surprises, maintain control, and manage outcomes. Trust, aka faith, doesn&#8217;t give me that. Faith sits in peace without giving me the future that I want, and that makes faith unpredictable and therefore inefficient.</p><p>Faith, for a person who loves control, is inefficient. There, I said it.</p><p><strong>What&#8217;s the Opposite of Procrastination?</strong></p><p>I realize that I&#8217;m wired for vigilance, and that wiring tells me that, &#8220;If I do it right now, I won&#8217;t have to worry about it later.&#8221; And this efficiency gene gives me a sense of mastery, of competence. It makes me feel capable, responsible, and on top of things. Which I realize now makes me feel morally on top of things. It&#8217;s like my efficiency proves my worth, AND determines the outcomes. Winner, winner. That&#8217;s the kind of person I want to be.</p><p>Trusting God doesn&#8217;t point to my mastery or competence. It doesn&#8217;t make me feel capable, responsible, <em>or</em> on top of things. It actually feels more like neglect or irresponsibility. Like I should be doing something other than resting, or trusting, that&#8217;s just not in my makeup.</p><p>I&#8217;m starting to think that faith isn&#8217;t as efficient as I want it to be, and that&#8217;s why control takes its place in my life. I mean, think about it, faith leaves empty space, it allows for delays, it tolerates unresolved outcomes. Trusting God doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean anything is going to change, or that results will be what I want them to be.</p><p>I prefer efficiency, no, I trust <em>it</em>. <em>It</em> feels responsible in a way that leaving things alone and trusting God never has.</p><p>Maybe my saying that makes you uncomfortable, or maybe it makes you feel not so alone, but either way, it&#8217;s turning a light on in a very dark room. And I like the lights on. It&#8217;s so hard to see without them.</p><p>Efficiency only works when the system belongs to you, and I&#8217;m starting to realize I&#8217;ve been applying it to things that don&#8217;t, like outcomes, timing, other people, the future. I&#8217;m not just being efficient. I&#8217;m taking responsibility for things that were never assigned to me.</p><p>No wonder faith feels inefficient. It keeps handing those things back. It leaves space where I&#8217;ve been filling it, and it removes the job I&#8217;ve been calling responsibility.</p><p>I&#8217;m starting to wonder if faith doesn&#8217;t feel less efficient simply because it doesn&#8217;t let me stay in charge.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">If this made you a little uncomfortable, you&#8217;re probably not the only one. Share it and find out.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-trusting-god-feels-so-hard-if-you-like-control?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I'm Uncomfortable With Doing Nothing]]></title><description><![CDATA[when rest makes you feel guilty]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/struggling-with-the-guilt-of-doing-nothing-peace</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/struggling-with-the-guilt-of-doing-nothing-peace</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:01:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1516158314695-14bedec722bc?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxiaXJkcyUyMHNpbmdpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc1MjI4MTEwfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" 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of yellow and brown bird standing on tree branch during daytime" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1516158314695-14bedec722bc?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxiaXJkcyUyMHNpbmdpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc1MjI4MTEwfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1516158314695-14bedec722bc?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxiaXJkcyUyMHNpbmdpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc1MjI4MTEwfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1516158314695-14bedec722bc?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxiaXJkcyUyMHNpbmdpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc1MjI4MTEwfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1516158314695-14bedec722bc?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxiaXJkcyUyMHNpbmdpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc1MjI4MTEwfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"></figcaption></figure></div><p>Last week, I had a moment where everything was fine. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and I had this unusual sense of calm, which I&#8217;m unfamiliar with, washing over me. But instead of just enjoying it, I noticed it. Like really noticed the change in atmosphere from the norm, and I kinda panicked, just a little.</p><p>It&#8217;s like how I imagine it would feel if you were walking a tightrope with no problem, enjoying the view, when suddenly, you looked down and realized that you were 100s of feet off the ground, standing on nothing but a rope, and so you  freak out and fall to your death.</p><p>When that feeling hit me, I couldn&#8217;t help but look for something more familiar to hold onto. So, I thought about a difficult conversation from earlier in the day and started replaying <em>it</em> because I felt strangely unsafe just sitting in peace.</p><p>I found a problem in the way the person had spoken to me, and I locked in. Now I had something to work with, something to interpret, something to adjust, something to hold onto. And if I&#8217;m being honest, that felt better than peace, and by better, I mean more familiar.</p><p>Maybe I don&#8217;t so much struggle with anxiety as I do with peace. Maybe I&#8217;ve gotten it all wrong all this time. It might just be that I, through years of practice, find anxiety more ordinary and therefore more a part of me.</p><p>See, I&#8217;m uncomfortable with not doing stuff. I like getting things done. I like being busy and making progress, and peace doesn&#8217;t give me anything to <em>do</em>. There is no checklist for peace, no to-do list, and that feels like underachievement.</p><p>For a high-functioning person like me, underachievement is the kiss of death. I&#8217;m just realizing this in real time, so forgive me if I&#8217;m beside myself right now. I mean, talk about barking up the wrong tree for most of my life.</p><p>My current research has taught me that our brains are trained by repetition, not intention, desire, or even awareness. Which means that your nervous system organizes itself around what&#8217;s familiar, and what&#8217;s familiar is whatever you repeatedly do or think, not whatever you know is true. </p><p>So that means that if you&#8217;ve spent years, as I have, replaying conversations, scanning for threats, and looking to people for cues to your safety, then when peace comes along, it feels like a frustrated spouse telling you to just calm down, and we all know how well that works out. </p><p><strong>So, now I&#8217;m starting to wonder if anxiety isn&#8217;t interrupting my peace, but peace is interrupting my anxiety.</strong> (Bolded that so you&#8217;d read it twice.) </p><p>Peace interrupts my progress in the area of control, management, and work. If I&#8217;m at peace, then my usual job is no longer getting done. My work of interpreter, problem-solver, emotional regulator, and anticipator of everyone&#8217;s needs is suddenly neglected, and that makes me feel unproductive and reckless. So my brain gets me back to work because not being productive feels like vulnerability to a brain I&#8217;ve trained to thrive on vigilance and hard work, and being reckless is just plain crazy. </p><p>Because peace messes with my system, I run away from it in order to regain control and get the system back up and working. </p><p>Not being busy seems like a dare to me; a dare to figure out what I <em>should</em> be doing, and what I <em>need</em> to do next. And once I know that, peace isn&#8217;t relief, it&#8217;s neglect, cuz I got things to do. </p><p>I can turn peace into anxiety in a split second just by thinking about it. It&#8217;s like peace is a tightrope, and thinking is looking down. The moment I start asking why I feel this way, or whether I can afford to rest, I&#8217;m no longer walking; I&#8217;m calculating, adjusting, and trying not to worry about it, and by then, I&#8217;ve already lost it and plummeted into the depths of anxiety. </p><p>We say we want peace, but we fight it because peace is a whistle-blower. Blowing its whistle on the unpaid emotional labor of doing things that aren&#8217;t ours to do.</p><p>When I am at peace, I am not:</p><ul><li><p>Trying to stay ahead of problems that haven&#8217;t happened</p></li><li><p>Making sure no one is mad at me</p></li><li><p>Replaying a conversation that happened a week ago</p></li><li><p>Setting the conditions under which rest is permissible, or</p></li><li><p>Solving the world&#8217;s problems</p></li></ul><p>These are God-sized tasks, and they are massive, heavy, and structurally unsound for a human to carry. It feels like responsibility, but it&#8217;s <strong>functional atheism: acting like the world is gonna stop spinning if I stop worrying about it.</strong> I stay busy so I don&#8217;t have to face the terrifying reality that I&#8217;m not actually in control of much at all.</p><p>But peace isn&#8217;t a reward for getting your life, or anyone else&#8217;s together; it&#8217;s the physiological necessity of being alive. It&#8217;s watching the birds instead of scanning for a predator behind every bush.</p><p>We don&#8217;t need to learn how to do peace. <strong>We need to learn how to stop being afraid of what happens when we stop doing everything else.</strong> We need to learn how to breathe like we <em>aren&#8217;t</em> being hunted. Because the truth is, the lion isn&#8217;t there; it&#8217;s just our fear of the future aggressively roaring and stalking us whenever we stop running.</p><p>Peace can&#8217;t survive the inspection of a mind trained to manage stuff. So I can&#8217;t work to maintain or hold onto peace, but I <em>can</em> let it exist without assigning myself the job of keeping it, understanding it, or figuring out what to do in it, because that&#8217;s when I slip back into work mode. </p><p>There is a lot to unpack in that one statement, because the urge itself doesn&#8217;t feel like I&#8217;m disrupting peace; it feels like responsibility. I mean, I&#8217;m paying attention, and I&#8217;m no dummy, I know you&#8217;ve got to stay ahead of stuff, or something could go wrong. </p><p>My instinct is always to assign meaning, to figure out what this strange feeling is, how long it will last, what I&#8217;m supposed to do inside of it, etc. I guess you could say my instinct is to turn peace into a project. And the moment I do that, I&#8217;m back to work and no longer living in peace. </p><p>P<strong>eace feels unsafe for the same reason grace does.</strong> It removes my job. And if you&#8217;ve spent your life managing what was never yours to carry, then the absence of responsibility doesn&#8217;t feel like relief. It feels like failure. Ah, peace, when did you become failure? </p><p>Here&#8217;s what I&#8217;m saying, peace would be more peaceful if I didn&#8217;t feel guilty for experiencing it. Which is ironic, considering how much I&#8217;ve studied and written about it. Turns out, knowing what peace is and letting myself live in it are not the same thing. (But <a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-rest-how-to-get-it">this</a> is something I&#8217;ve been coming back to when I can&#8217;t seem to stay there.) </p><p>I think I need to go reread my book on the fruit of the Spirit. <a href="https://amzn.to/49nZE0A">Join me</a>?</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/49nZE0A" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mAa1!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fba08c4df-dc86-4ad6-a28f-381f11462fa3_1500x600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mAa1!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fba08c4df-dc86-4ad6-a28f-381f11462fa3_1500x600.png 848w, 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mAa1!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fba08c4df-dc86-4ad6-a28f-381f11462fa3_1500x600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mAa1!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fba08c4df-dc86-4ad6-a28f-381f11462fa3_1500x600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mAa1!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fba08c4df-dc86-4ad6-a28f-381f11462fa3_1500x600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mAa1!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fba08c4df-dc86-4ad6-a28f-381f11462fa3_1500x600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div 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data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/struggling-with-the-guilt-of-doing-nothing-peace/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/struggling-with-the-guilt-of-doing-nothing-peace/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Shopping Therapy, Pinterest, And Worship]]></title><description><![CDATA[what do they all have in common]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/shopping-therapy-pinterest-and-worship</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/shopping-therapy-pinterest-and-worship</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:23:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png" width="940" height="788" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4LOd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80f6e974-dbb0-49df-b1c1-ff2a36586fae_940x788.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>In my twenties, shopping was my coping mechanism.</p><p>Bad day? Target run.<br>Feeling aimless? New throw pillows.<br>Stressed? Add to cart.</p><p>I didn&#8217;t realize I was using spending to regulate my emotions until I was $20,000 in debt and surrounded by things I didn&#8217;t actually need, and feelings I never actually faced.</p><p>That&#8217;s when I started to understand something psychologists have long known:<br>Just the act of imagining a future purchase, browsing, saving, or even just curating can light up the same reward centers in the brain as actually buying.</p><p>It&#8217;s called <strong>anticipatory dopamine.</strong></p><p>Turns out, our brains don&#8217;t just like <em>having</em> things; they like <em>collecting</em><strong> </strong>visions of what could be.</p><p>That little lift you feel while scrolling, while imagining your future kitchen or your future wardrobe or your dream house, feels so good because your brain is wired to respond to the possibility that something better could be just ahead.</p><p>Which is why I now consider Pinterest the gentler, wiser version of shopping therapy.</p><p>No checkout.<br>No guilt.<br>No clutter.<br>Just ideas.<br>Just hope.<br>Just a little window shopping for the soul.</p><p>But that feeling, the lift, the <strong>almost-beauty</strong> of what could be, isn&#8217;t just about stuff. It&#8217;s the same part of your brain that responds when you stand at the edge of the ocean. Or when a song wrecks you in the best possible way. When you get that unexplainable sense that life could be fuller, richer, and more alive than it is right now.</p><p>That&#8217;s the part of us that was made for awe.</p><p>Shopping just borrows that awe and shrinks it. It gives us a counterfeit version of transcendence, something you can hold onto, control, and bring home in a paper bag. But consumer awe is hollow awe, and it offers nothing but a finish line. Once the item is on your shelf, the awe of possibility dies. The sparkle fades, the dopamine dips, and you&#8217;re forced to start the hunt all over again.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png" width="940" height="788" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:788,&quot;width&quot;:940,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:989808,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/166900602?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uBMC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60953e8f-6846-4af9-a0f2-40b8790a9081_940x788.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>But awe doesn&#8217;t die off like that, and neither does worship, because they don&#8217;t end in you possessing something that loses its sparkle, they end in adoration.</p><p>That same pull you feel when you&#8217;re curating a life you&#8217;d love to live is the same feeling you get when you see the power of a waterfall, or consider the billions of galaxies like ours, and realize we haven&#8217;t even made it to the edge of this one.</p><p>Shopping therapy may feel natural, but we weren&#8217;t wired to be satisfied by the purchase, but by His beauty, His power, His presence. We were made to be drawn to His goodness and to feel the ache of thinking <em>there&#8217;s got to be more than this</em>, and then to discover that More. </p><p>So go ahead, pin that She Shed, those lemon-blueberry scones, that walk-in pantry with the glass jars. In a world that can feel gray, there is a sweetness in practicing imagination and delighting in beauty, a capacity God designed you for. Only don&#8217;t mistake the gift for the source. Be careful that your dream boards don't become monuments to discontentment, but rather prompts for gratitude.</p><p>Because Pinterest may stir the feeling and even give you a glimpse of what your heart is reaching for, but it trades the real thing for a version you can control. Which means that feeling you keep trying to satisfy with something new might not be asking for something new at all. Maybe it&#8217;s asking for something that doesn&#8217;t fade once you finally have it.</p><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/shopping-therapy-pinterest-and-worship?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Share this with someone who keeps adding to their cart when what they really need can&#8217;t be purchased.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/shopping-therapy-pinterest-and-worship?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/shopping-therapy-pinterest-and-worship?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/shopping-therapy-pinterest-and-worship/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/shopping-therapy-pinterest-and-worship/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[There Is A Rest For You]]></title><description><![CDATA[If the life of faith feels like more work then rest, there is a rest for you. This short meditation will help you start to find your rest.]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/there-is-a-rest-for-you-in-the-life-of-faith</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/there-is-a-rest-for-you-in-the-life-of-faith</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:52:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/192981248/86df30536b70e1df2c198a8446aeddde.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Uncertainty Feels So Uncomfortable]]></title><description><![CDATA[If you need certainty in order to feel secure, you aren't alone.]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-uncertainty-feels-so-uncomfortable-for-christians</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-uncertainty-feels-so-uncomfortable-for-christians</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:47:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/192979414/3afc52d6ef2f9fd4171f94d515ab8515.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp" width="960" height="538" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:538,&quot;width&quot;:960,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:25012,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/191008145?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[There is a Rest for You]]></title><description><![CDATA[thoughts on the reality of rest and my subconcious aversion to it]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-rest-how-to-get-it</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-rest-how-to-get-it</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:02:47 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#127911; AUDIO for REST: If your mind resists rest the moment it appears, don&#8217;t analyze it, just listen to this.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" width="6000" height="4000" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:4000,&quot;width&quot;:6000,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;a small black and white dog sleeping on a couch&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="a small black and white dog sleeping on a couch" title="a small black and white dog sleeping on a couch" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1649609152484-970b013af72a?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw4fHxkb2dzJTIwc2xlZXBpbmd8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzc0OTc3NzU0fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Rest is something I subconsciously avoid. Consciously, I want it terribly, but when it comes along, I want to jump up and run away, waving my arms like a wasp is threatening to sting on me.</p><p>So when I read <em>The Master&#8217;s Indwelling</em> by Andrew Murray, it was like the wasp lost its sting. I ravenously (no, it&#8217;s not lost on me that it wasn&#8217;t <em>restfully</em>) started copying down his words. And these were the ones for me. I thought maybe they might be for you, too.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>There is rest for me. </p></div><p>This was my favorite! Never really knew it was true.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>I believe, heartily, there is rest in the life of faith.</p><p>I believe that there is a rest into which Jesus, our Joshua, can bring a trusting soul. I believe it is for me. I know God keeps me every hour in his mighty power.</p><p>I believe there is a possibility of such a change out of the life of spiritual death, and darkness, and sadness, and complaining, that I have often lived, . . .</p></div><p>It&#8217;s like he sees into my soul and names it all.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>into the land of supply of every want; where the grace of Jesus is proved sufficient every hour of every day. I believe in the possibility that there is such a land of rest for me.</p><p>Up to this time, I have never found His rest.<em> </em></p></div><p>It&#8217;s nice to know I&#8217;m not the only one.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>I have not lived that life, and I am guilty; I have dishonored God; I have been like Israel; I have provoked Him to wrath by my unbelief and disobedience. I have not glorified God by a life lived in the land of rest.</p><p>Today I begin to look away from myself and towards God. After all, the God who converted me is the same God who is able to bring me into this life every minute of every day.</p><p>It is for me.</p><p>I do believe, that God does want to give me his rest.</p><p>It is for me;</p><p>I do believe that God does not disinherit any of His children. </p></div><p>Not even when we&#8217;ve spent decades not knowing what we are learning now.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>What He gives is for every one. </p></div><p>Amen! Not just the unanxious. </p><div class="pullquote"><p>I believe that blessed life is waiting for me. It is meant for me. God is waiting to bestow it, and to work it in me. Glory be to His blessed name! My soul says it is for me.</p><p>I believe this unimaginable treasure is there even for me, the weakest and most frail of his beings.</p><p>It is for me.</p><p>I can never, by any effort of my own, grasp it, God must give it to me.</p></div><p>I can repeat these words, but the part of my brain that insists on protecting me has yet to learn it. And I know now it only learns through repetition. So this is my repetition. To read these words regularly, to read them when my guilt, my temperature or my heart rate rises, and to show my brain that rest truly is for me.</p><p></p><p>If you&#8217;d like to meditate on this idea, here is the text uninterrupted: (Or listen to the soothing audio at the top of the page.) </p><p><strong>There is rest for me.</strong></p><p>I believe, heartily, there is rest in the life of faith. I believe this rest is for me. I believe that there is a rest into which Jesus, our Joshua, can bring a trusting soul. I believe it is for me. I know God keeps me every hour in his mighty power.</p><p>I believe there is a possibility of such a change out of the life of spiritual death, and darkness, and sadness, and complaining, that I have often lived, into the land of <strong>supply of every want</strong>; where the grace of Jesus is proved sufficient every hour of every day. I believe in the possibility that there is such <strong>a land of rest</strong> for me.</p><p>Up to this time I have never found His rest. I have not lived that life, and I am guilty; I have dishonored God; I have been like Israel; I have provoked Him to wrath by my unbelief and disobedience. I have not glorified God by a life lived in the land of rest.</p><p>Today I begin to look away from myself and towards God. After all, the God who converted me is the same God who is able to bring me into this life every minute of every day.</p><p>It is for me.</p><p>I do believe, that God does want to give me his rest.</p><p>It is for me;</p><p>I do believe that God <strong>does not </strong>disinherit any of His children. What He gives is for every one. I believe that blessed life is waiting for me. It is meant for me. God is waiting to bestow it, and to work it in me. Glory be to His blessed name! My soul says it is for me.</p><p>I believe this unimaginable treasure is there even for me, the weakest and most frail of his beings.</p><p>It is for me.</p><p>I can never, by any effort of my own grasp it, God must give it to me.</p><p>Andrew Murray, <em>The Master&#8217;s Indwelling </em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-rest-how-to-get-it/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-rest-how-to-get-it/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-rest-how-to-get-it?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-rest-how-to-get-it?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[You Don’t Need Certainty—You Need a Shepherd]]></title><description><![CDATA[why uncertainty can feel like scarcity]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/psalm-23-finding-security</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/psalm-23-finding-security</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:01:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#127911; <strong>AUDIO</strong>: I&#8217;ve gone into this topic further in this audio. Enjoy!</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp" width="960" height="538" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:538,&quot;width&quot;:960,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:25012,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/191008145?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqOh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0844b13d-c3a8-4378-89b9-ccf5b146bac7_960x538.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Are you comforted by your circumstances? </p><p>Let me ask it another way: are you uncomfortable <em>because</em> of your circumstances? </p><p>When your comfort depends on things outside your soul, like your health, relationships, money, safety, reputation, or your control over the future, comfort is perpetually just beyond your reach. Because, as Thomas Watson would say, &#8220;The world can no more fill the soul than a drop can fill a bucket.&#8221;</p><p>When your peace needs favorable circumstances, your soul is vulnerable to circumstantial disturbance. Which means you have to constantly monitor your world. You have to track, anticipate, adjust, and brace, as if you are the manager of all that was never put under your authority.</p><p>Anxiety then grows from that feeling of being responsible for things only God controls because of an unconscious sense that you don&#8217;t quite have what you need in order to be okay. </p><p>This is a hard pill to swallow, and I both hate saying it and love what saying it reveals. That the lack we often sense is not the lack we have. We don&#8217;t actually lack provision. We lack <em>certainty.</em> We lack <em>predictability.</em> We lack the ability to <em>forecast </em>the future. </p><p>The Christian answer to that lack is not certain provision, it&#8217;s safety. And, you don&#8217;t need certainty and savings to be safe. You need a Shepherd, and you have one.</p><p>(I talk about this more in my audio, found at the top of the page.) Let me know your thoughts. Have you ever felt like uncertainty was uncomfortable?</p><div class="pullquote"><p>The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/psalm-23-finding-security?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/psalm-23-finding-security?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/psalm-23-finding-security/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/psalm-23-finding-security/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[God Is Near]]></title><description><![CDATA[a meditation for the anxious or fearful heart]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/god-is-near-meditation-for-the-anxious-heart</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/god-is-near-meditation-for-the-anxious-heart</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 15:54:40 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/192039766/78d30e9129beb113764bd4d09925d728.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png" width="1456" height="1048" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cK0N!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18036c73-e5aa-4ff3-abb0-4d471c18a296_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Anxiety Is My Worldly Treasure]]></title><description><![CDATA[I used to think anxiety was a necessity, like preparedness or discernment.]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/anxiety-trust-god-letting-go-control</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/anxiety-trust-god-letting-go-control</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:03:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png" width="1456" height="1048" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1048,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1223490,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/191260751?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pp1G!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562bce88-86e0-432f-9855-4460718e865d_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>I used to think anxiety was a necessity, like preparedness or discernment. As if I were the Protector of the World, and anxiety were my control panel. How else would I stay one step ahead of what could go wrong without anxiety keeping me alert? But none of the buttons on my control panel are actually connected to the outside world. It&#8217;s a placebo. I&#8217;m spinning a steering wheel that isn't attached to the tires, convinced that my skilled driving is the only thing keeping us on the road. So I&#8217;ve effectively traded the reality of my helplessness for the high-octane illusion of control.</p><p>After all, it&#8217;s only through precise and powerful anxiety that I can do something about the future. That I can protect what I&#8217;ve been given to protect. How else can I really be considered responsible if I don&#8217;t have a degree of anxiety about the situation?</p><p>I mean, consider the opposite. Consider being nonplused about the state of affairs in your family, or your country, or the world. Imagine not getting riled up or upset when things look like they are going wrong, out of control, or just plain dangerous. What would others do if you didn&#8217;t correct them, or teach them, or worry over them? Where would our help come from?</p><p>Anxiety is a kind of treasure, isn&#8217;t it? Not that I&#8217;d ever tell anyone that, but I do treat it as such. I do tend to mentally organize around it, and guard it, revisit it, and reinforce it. But there is a strange paradox in guarding this kind of treasure: the more I protect it, the more it crushes me. It is a heavy, suffocating wealth. I&#8217;m exhausted from the effort of carrying it, but I fear I am subconsciously terrified of the lightness that would come if I just set it down. It seems I treat it like gold, but it feels like lead.</p><p>I don&#8217;t just have anxiety. I keep it. I covet it. I hold onto it as if letting it go would leave me exposed. As if my life, and yours, depended on it. And that&#8217;s what makes it so difficult to let go of.</p><p>And there&#8217;s the tell.</p><p>Because I don&#8217;t treat things I hate this way. I don&#8217;t return to them, hold them close, keep them running in the background. No, that&#8217;s how I treat things I think I <em>need</em>.</p><p>That&#8217;s how I treat my treasure.</p><p>And I&#8217;m not entirely sure what to do with that yet.</p><p>But it does make me wonder what I believe anxiety is actually doing for me&#8230; and whether I&#8217;ve been trusting it to hold something only God was meant to carry. And if that&#8217;s the case, why am I trying to play God?</p><p><strong>AUDIO:</strong> <em>As a continuation of this, I&#8217;ve recorded a guided reflection centered on returning to peace in God&#8217;s presence.</em></p><div class="native-audio-embed" data-component-name="AudioPlaceholder" data-attrs="{&quot;label&quot;:null,&quot;mediaUploadId&quot;:&quot;90755242-f08a-4664-a7a3-3813954c7dc9&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:367.15103,&quot;downloadable&quot;:false,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><p></p><div class="pullquote"><p>&#8220;<em>I look up toward the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, the Creator of heaven and earth! May he not allow your foot to slip! May your protector not sleep! Look! Israel&#8217;s protector does not sleep or slumber! The LORD is your protector; the LORD is the shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day, or the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life. The LORD will protect you in all you do, now and forevermore.</em>&#8221; (Psalm 121:1&#8211;8)</p></div><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/anxiety-trust-god-letting-go-control?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">If you can take a second and share this with someone who might be carrying this too, I think it would mean more than you realize.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/anxiety-trust-god-letting-go-control?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/anxiety-trust-god-letting-go-control?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/anxiety-trust-god-letting-go-control/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/anxiety-trust-god-letting-go-control/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Need To Know Where This Is Going]]></title><description><![CDATA[on the illusion of control, and why uncertainty feels more stressful than it should]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-not-knowing-feels-unsafe-trust-god</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-not-knowing-feels-unsafe-trust-god</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:02:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<h5>&#127911; <strong>Audio (12 mins) - </strong><em>I explored this idea in an audio format, if you&#8217;d prefer to listen.</em></h5><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, 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srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1449965408869-eaa3f722e40d?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxkcml2aW5nfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3NDE4MDgzMnww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"></figcaption></figure></div><p>Yesterday we all went for smoothies, and when my husband turned <em>right</em> out of the parking lot instead of <em>left</em>, I started to feel uneasy. </p><p>There was a conversation going on in the car so I didn&#8217;t say anything. Until I just couldn&#8217;t control myself anymore, and I interrupted with, &#8220;<em>I&#8217;m sorry, where are we going?</em>&#8221; I asked like I had just come up from underwater after holding my breath for too long. I couldn&#8217;t stand not knowing why he was going in the exact <em>opposite</em> direction of where I believed we should be going. The fact that he might have taken a wrong turn, or that he was going to surprise us with another stop was beyond what I could handle in the particular moment.</p><p>As I thought about this desperate need of mine to know where I was going, I started to run a spiritual assessment. </p><p><em>What inside of me makes me so uncomfortable with the unknown, especially when that unknown was a car taking me in a direction I am unsure of?</em></p><p>Ok, suspend reality with me for a minute, and travel into the stuff of fiction.</p><blockquote><p>Imagine being dropped, out of nowhere, into a vehicle in a city unknown to you, going somewhere you did not know, but with someone you did. Would you sit calmly by and trust your driver knew what was going on? After all, you trust them? Or would you grab the armrest as if you were sliding down a steep hill on a slippery sled and scream, &#8220;Where are we and what are we doing?&#8221;</p></blockquote><p>That&#8217;s how I feel when the person who is driving takes a &#8220;wrong turn,&#8221; like I just entered the Twilight Zone. My existential angst kicks in whenever I realize I am not in control of my own destiny because I don&#8217;t know where we are going or what we are doing.</p><p>I realize this is a bit extreme, but <em>am I alone in this?</em></p><p><strong>The Illusion of Control</strong></p><p><em>Do you ever feel this same kind of anxiety driven by not knowing what your future holds</em>?</p><p>It&#8217;s an uncomfortable realization, <em>isn&#8217;t it?</em> The notion that we doubt our safety unless we know our destination.</p><p>Human instinct seems to tell us that if something important is going to happen, it&#8217;s safer if we influence it. That sounds reasonable, right? After all, me doing something to protect myself increases the odds of my safety. And, because of that, my brain equates agency with security.</p><p>But apply that to the things only God can control, like timing, outcomes, or other people, and you&#8217;re in for a world of hurt. If God is truly directing events, then my control is limited.</p><p>But, truth be told, we don&#8217;t feel comfortable inside that limitation, because to limit your control is to make friends with vulnerability.</p><p>It&#8217;s far less vulnerable to say God&#8217;s providence <em>plus</em> my vigilance equals safety. Many an anxious Christian has proven that you can trust God&#8217;s goodness while simultaneously assuming His providence alone is not enough. It&#8217;s not a question of his existence or character, but of His wisdom.</p><p>Proverbs 3:5&#8211;6 exists to speak to just such anxiety when it says, &#8220;<em>Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.</em>&#8221; Our instinct is to lean on our own understanding because it feels more reliable. And it&#8217;s a tale as old as time. Abraham tried to fulfill God&#8217;s promise through a surrogate. Martha tried to manage the room for Jesus. Peter tried to control what Jesus would do next. </p><p>They didn&#8217;t reject God, full stop. They just struggled to live in a world where He determined the outcome of their lives. In other words, they couldn&#8217;t live in peace with unresolved uncertainty.</p><p>When the Israelites wandered the desert, worrying about their next meal or the timing of their arrival, they felt the tension. Sure, they knew God existed. I mean, He was a pillar of fire right in front of them. They could literally get a visual on Him.</p><p>But still, the question was, could His management of their lives be trusted? Just like me in the passenger seat, they were grabbing for the armrest because the Driver wasn&#8217;t taking the route they would have chosen.</p><p>So, how do you actually surrender control? How do you move from the theory of Proverbs 3:5 to the actual practice of it? By a process of retraining both your soul and nervous system through:</p><p><strong>The Surrender Snowball</strong></p><p>Surrender is like getting out of debt. You&#8217;ve spent years spending what you didn&#8217;t have to spend, and now you want out. If you have ever listened to Dave Ramsey, then you know you don&#8217;t get out quickly, but methodically. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, you gain momentum, one small payment at a time, starting with the smallest debts first, so the wins start to build like a snowball.</p><p>Spiritually, that means starting small, like letting someone do something in a way you wouldn&#8217;t, making a decision without weighing every possibility, or moving on without checking one more time. These surrenders feel both insignificant and negligent at the same time. Funny how that works, but that should only stand to prove how tightly safety and control are tied together.</p><p>When nothing falls apart, your nervous system starts to register what your belief alone couldn&#8217;t seem to hold onto: that the absence of your control isn&#8217;t the same as the presence of danger.</p><p>These small surrenders build a snowball of tolerance for the uncertainty that used to lead directly to anxiety. And what you end up with, over time, is a recalibrated understanding of security, one that no longer depends on your constant intervention to be sustained.</p><p><strong>Don&#8217;t Scratch</strong></p><p>Control is like an itch you want to scratch. It feels so urgent, so necessary, so good, but with each scratch, you are only making the problem worse, leading to more scratching, and itching, itching and scratching. It&#8217;s a vicious cycle.</p><p>To stop the itch that is control you have to pause. Instead of going right to fixing things, stop, don&#8217;t do it. Let the text sit unsent. Let the question go unasked. Let the uncertainty be what it is.</p><p>Like the skin needs space to heal without being scratched, the brain needs space to see that the catastrophe it expects isn&#8217;t actually happening.</p><p>Spiritually, this looks like leaving the unknown alone and entrusting it to God. That means that anxiety will rise, peak, and then, without intervention, start to settle, leaving your soul with the evidence it needs to realize that nothing fell apart just because you didn&#8217;t scratch the itch of control.</p><p><strong>Let It Go</strong></p><p>Corrie ten Boom once said, &#8220;<em>Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open</em>.&#8221; The struggle is real. When you hold everything tightly, your body, your breath, the outcome, you&#8217;re practicing letting go like Pharaoh holding on until the plagues are in your living room and the Red Sea is closing over your head. That isn&#8217;t surrender; it&#8217;s just being overpowered by reality.</p><p>True trust requires a physical liturgy, literally unclenching your fists and releasing your breath to signal to your heart that you are safe. Learn from Pharaoh: let go before the crisis forces your hand, and teach your soul that the Driver can be trusted long before the road gets bumpy.</p><p><strong>Build a History of Trust</strong></p><p>We update our internal maps through repeated experience. After enough times watching things work out without your interference, you end up with a new way of thinking. One that says, &#8220;<em>Things can work out even when I am not the one managing them.</em>&#8221; Thus retraining your brain to recognize that the world can function perfectly under God&#8217;s control, even when you aren&#8217;t helping Him.</p><p><strong>Anxiety is self-protection trying to impersonate God.</strong> </p><p>It wants to foresee, to prevent, to protect. It dresses itself in calculating outcomes and rehearsing disasters while underneath, it&#8217;s still just fear holding onto control.</p><p>But once you&#8217;ve let go of the little things, you can open your hands, and surrender more fully. You can let someone misunderstand you without rushing in to correct them. That&#8217;s freedom! You can learn to trust God even when it looks like He can&#8217;t be trusted. That&#8217;s victory! That&#8217;s a peace that surpasses all understanding.</p><p>Ever wonder what the world would do without you? </p><p>What if the chaos you&#8217;re trying to fix is actually a natural process of growth that you&#8217;ve just mislabeled as a problem? A lot of times we think things are broken just because they don&#8217;t fit our specific schedule for how they should be &#8220;fixed.&#8221;</p><p>I wonder which "broken" thing in my life might actually just be growing on a different timeline than mine?</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-not-knowing-feels-unsafe-trust-god?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-not-knowing-feels-unsafe-trust-god?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-not-knowing-feels-unsafe-trust-god/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-not-knowing-feels-unsafe-trust-god/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Obsessive Compulsive Time Disorder]]></title><description><![CDATA[Listen now | when the clock becomes your judge]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-time-anxiety</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-time-anxiety</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 16:31:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/191776643/931c12d67d1ce9313c5e68db01b0d909.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is a kind of discomfort that doesn&#8217;t come from pain or conflict or fear but from the clock. For me, the ticking of the clock is like the ticking of a timer telling me my turn is almost up, and if I don&#8217;t hurry, I&#8217;m going to either lose my turn or lose the whole game.</p><p>Time bothers me more than it should, I know. But ignoring it is like trying to ignore a splinter in my toe. Sure, it&#8217;s just so small and unassuming, but still, it demands all my attention. Nothing is technically wrong, but every step reminds me that something is definitely off, and probably going to fester if I don&#8217;t do something about it.</p><p>Time discomfort comes from fairly benign stuff, like being late, waiting longer than I planned, missing a green light, or just watching minutes slip by while I try to finish something.</p><p><em>These are small enough irritants, so why does something this small feel so big?</em></p><p>As I see it, there are two types of what I&#8217;m calling <strong>OCTD (Obsessive Compulsive Time Disorder)</strong>. One has to do with time interrupting my expectations. If something is supposed to happen at a certain moment, and it doesn&#8217;t, irritation bubbles up like a canker sore meeting hot coffee. Sure, you say the plan could still happen, and your day doesn&#8217;t have to be ruined, but this small disruption sets off a cascade of future disruptions where one missed second spills into the next, and then the next, and suddenly the whole afternoon is sliding downhill fast.</p><p>I don&#8217;t like cascading time; I like time that stays in line and behaves in an orderly fashion. Time that walks down the hill and arrives without grass stains on its knees.</p><p>But there is a second type of OCTD, made possible by the human brain, which, in general, doesn&#8217;t always treat language as metaphor. Sometimes it just processes it as a prediction.</p><p>So, when we say something like, &#8220;<em>I&#8217;m running out of time?</em>&#8221; Or, &#8220;<em>There is not enough time</em>.&#8221; It may sound like a harmless enough way to explain how you feel, but my brain is very literal, and it has come to believe that time <em>is,</em> in fact, almost gone, and that sense of urgency gives me all kinds of anxiety. I mean, <em>what will I do if time is all gone?</em></p><p>When we repeatedly say, &#8220;<em>I&#8217;m running out of time</em>,&#8221; our brains start treating time itself like a scarce survival resource, in the category of oxygen, money, or food. That scarcity mentality then triggers urgency, and urgency, in turn, activates the stress response.</p><p>Bada bing, bada boom&#8212;anxiety. Because something essential is about to disappear, and you definitely better worry about it!</p><p>For us anxious types, time itself is a trigger, releasing a cruel taskmaster: the clock, who makes life start to feel like a timed game where the buzzer gets louder the longer something takes.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You&#8217;re late.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You should already be further along.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You&#8217;re falling behind.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You forgot something.</p><p>When you have anxiety, the clock is anything but neutral. It&#8217;s more of a moral auditor, fastidiously evaluating everything about you.</p><p>Pretty soon, your brain starts asking questions that have nothing to do with your minutes and everything to do with your value. <em>Did I do enough? Should I have started earlier? Am I wasting time? Am I going to regret this later?</em></p><p>Did you know that this isn&#8217;t how calm people experience time? For them, time is just a sequence, there to organize events without attaching any moral meaning to them. They just see the clock as helping them know:</p><p>First, I do this.<br>Then, I do that. <br>After that, I&#8217;ll deal with the next thing.</p><p>And so, when something takes longer than expected, their response is something like, &#8220;<em>That took longer than I thought. I&#8217;ll adjust.</em>&#8221; Are your eyes bugging out right now, like mine?</p><p>Their clock <em>informs</em> them, it doesn&#8217;t <em>accuse</em> them. It&#8217;s not constantly ticking at them, saying, &#8220;<em>Something&#8217;s gonna go wrong!&#8221;</em></p><p>Their minds assume something different than the anxious mind. Instead of thinking, &#8220;<em>There isn&#8217;t enough time</em>,&#8221; their minds assume something like, &#8220;<em>There&#8217;s only so much that can fit into an hour.&#8221;</em></p><p>My trouble is that time is like my shopping bag at an everything&#8217;s-free sale, I try to fill my hour with over an hour&#8217;s worth of activity so I can get all the minutes I want while time is still available for the taking.</p><p>That&#8217;s because my brain, like the genius that it is, is running calculations in the background, deducing that if time keeps passing and this isn&#8217;t finished yet, something bad is gonna happen. Like, if I&#8217;m late, I might disappoint them. If I don&#8217;t finish everything, I&#8217;ll miss out on what others are getting.</p><p>My nervous system turns time into a predictive threat marker with the clock as its warning system, acting like some kind of PR agent attempting to prevent regret, embarrassment, and failure.</p><p>My nervous system means well. It just wants to protect me. Bless its heart. But somehow that <strong>prediction system</strong> has become overly sensitive, and now time itself just feels dangerous, always.</p><p><strong>But time </strong><em><strong>isn&#8217;t</strong></em><strong> dangerous; it&#8217;s just out of my control.</strong></p><p>Sure, we can influence it by preparing for it. We can plan carefully and start early, but we can&#8217;t command it. The clock keeps moving, whether circumstances cooperate with my plans or not. And that&#8217;s where anxiety tries to help us out.</p><p>For a mind like mine that feels responsible for making everything go correctly, a loss of control feels like showing up at the gym and accidentally running around the track buck naked.</p><p>Exposed!</p><p>But that exposure has two possible outcomes, and strangely enough, I <em>do</em> get to choose between them. Finally!</p><p>I can either attempt to take over more control and get more stressed out over time&#8217;s inability to do what I say. <em>Or</em> I can recognize the exposure for what it is: a glimpse into the difference between what belongs to God and what I&#8217;ve been trying to manhandle away from Him.</p><p>Turns out timing discomfort might be one of the most ordinary places where human beings discover they aren&#8217;t God.</p><p>In <em><a href="https://amzn.to/49nZE0A">Fruitful</a></em>, I wrote that irritation is one of the earliest signs that I&#8217;m not relying on the fruit of patience but on my flesh. <a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/daily-fruit-patience">Patience</a> is my reliance on God instead of on my preferred sequence of events taking place in my preferred time.</p><p>Most of us move through the day without noticing this pattern. All we know is that we feel rushed, behind, and slightly stressed from morning until night. <strong>Which begs the question, what do we do with this awareness?</strong></p><h4><strong>Renew your mind</strong></h4><p>While we all necessarily live within the constraints of time, this side of heaven, we have been taught to conform to the <strong>authority</strong> of time by assuming that productivity corroborates worth, efficiency proves competence, falling behind equals failure, and the clock determines our value. When you internalize these assumptions, the clock becomes a kind of moral authority telling you when you are failing, behind, or just plain insufficient.</p><p>But the Bible calls us to refuse the systems of evaluation that the world uses, and that includes the idea that time is your judge.</p><p>Romans 12 tells us not to be &#8220;<em>conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.&#8221; </em>And refusing to be conformed can include refusing the belief that the clock is your judge and jury.</p><p>Christian theology has always treated time differently from the world because of who God is. He isn&#8217;t bound by time. For Him, &#8220;<em>a thousand years are like a day</em>.&#8221; We, on the other hand, do live within time&#8217;s limits, but that doesn&#8217;t mean we&#8217;re supposed to treat time as our ultimate authority.</p><p>Renewing the mind on the subject of time means learning to see it as a tool rather than a judge. When we move time from the space of boundary to arbiter, we misplace our allegiance. Time was never meant to become the decider of our worth.</p><p>An anxious relationship with time reveals a hidden conformity to the world&#8217;s system of evaluation, where the clock determines our worth. We renew our minds on this matter by stepping out of that system and remembering that time belongs to God, not to the pressures that try to rule us through it.</p><p><em>But how does that actually happen in real life?</em></p><p>The way the mind changes is both fairly ordinary and magical at the same time. Anxiety is negative faith, having more confidence in a negative outcome than in a good one. Once your mind has formed those conclusions, it tends to hold to them for dear life unless something completely contradicts them. So, the renewal of the mind starts with baby steps, not a full-scale worldview shift.</p><p>Your brain learns through accumulated experience, which ironically, takes time. And we&#8217;ve all had a lot of time to complicate our relationship with the clock, but it doesn&#8217;t take as long to unwind the problem as it did to wind it up.</p><p>Think of it as interrupting an old pattern. Time is saying it&#8217;s almost up, you are running out of me, but instead of reacting how you usually react, speeding up or panicking, you make one slightly different choice.</p><p><strong>You pause.</strong></p><p>And you let the moment unfold long enough to see what actually happens next.</p><p>That tiny interruption is where you <em>start</em> renewing your mind, because your mind can finally observe something you rarely allow it to see: the timeline slipped, but the world didn&#8217;t collapse as anticipated.</p><p>God worked this out in the lives of the Israelites in the wilderness. When the people were hungry, and there wasn&#8217;t enough food or time in the day to get more, God didn&#8217;t give in to their frantic schedule and give them food for the week. He just gave them enough manna for the day. If they tried to store tomorrow&#8217;s portion, it spoiled overnight.</p><p>The lesson is the same for us as it was for them; tomorrow&#8217;s outcome is not ours to control. We all have to move through this hour and trust God over and over again with each passing minute.</p><p><em>Is that such a terrible predicament to be in?</em></p><p>Renewing the mind works the same way. The old instinct says, fix the timeline now. But the new response is different. As you stop looking to the clock as your judge or master, you start to trust that time is in God&#8217;s hands.</p><div class="pullquote"><p style="text-align: center;"><em>&#8220;My times are in your hands&#8230;&#8221; (Psalm 31:15)</em></p></div><p>For example, imagine you run into traffic and realize you are going to be late. Your mind instantly predicts the worst: This is going to mess everything up. And so instinctively you start to rush, reorganize, apologize ahead of time, all in an attempt to prove to yourself that the timeline is still under your control.</p><p>This is where small shifts happen.</p><p>Instead of fighting the clock, you can allow the disruption to exist for a moment, to be still, in that moment, and know that He is God. You will head to your destination, of course, but you can resist the urge to panic on the way. Instead, let the schedule wobble rather than forcing it immediately back into place.</p><p>So, you arrive a few minutes later than planned, but the conversation still happens. The meeting still starts. The day continues moving in roughly the same direction it was already headed.</p><p>Just recognizing moments like that starts teaching your brain something new. The timeline slipped, yes, but life continued anyway. As the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us, &#8220;<em>The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit.</em>&#8221; (Ecclesiastes 7:8&#8211;9)</p><p>Your nervous system may have predicted catastrophe, but reality produced something far more ordinary. Each time that happens, the prediction loses a little authority. Gradually, the clock stops sounding like an alarm and becomes what it always was, a way of measuring moments rather than a judge of your worth.</p><p>Which makes me wonder if the clock was ever really the problem.</p><p>Maybe timing discomfort is just one of the places where the illusion of our control gets exposed. The clock is going to keep ticking either way. The only thing that changes is how we experience those ticks, as something slipping through our fingers, or as something safely kept in God&#8217;s hands.</p><p>I&#8217;d love to hear your experience with time, whether it&#8217;s similar to mine or completely different.</p><div class="pullquote"><p></p></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[When Everything Depends On You]]></title><description><![CDATA[Listen now | how your thoughts on God shapes your world]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-anxiety</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/christian-anxiety</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 16:21:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/191775049/56bb2baebdd6d4bf45037a80137d1187.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When everything depends on you, you feel it, in your bones, in your stomach, in your heart. The pressure can feel like the weight of the world is on you. And if you let go for a second, that world will roll right out of your hands and out of your control. So you keep your hands on the ball. You stay alert. You hold it together. You keep stepping in, just in case everything really <em>does</em> depend on you.</p><p>But you don&#8217;t just <em>feel</em> the weight of the world; you <em>interpret</em> its reliance on you through the filter of what you believe about God. And anxiety reveals that filter.</p><p>Which means anxiety is not just what we feel, it&#8217;s how we interpret life. And when that interpretation involves God, we are doing theology.</p><p><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/does-god-exist">Theology</a> is reasoning about God; it&#8217;s how we interpret our lives in relation to who He is. That means the moment anyone answers the questions :</p><p>Who is God? <br>What is He like? <br>How does He relate to me? <br>What does He require? <br>What can I expect from Him?</p><p>We all <em>do</em> theology. We just don&#8217;t always know that&#8217;s what we are doing. But in order to believe, you have to interpret. When anything happens in your life, suffering, an unanswered prayer, anxiety, a closed door, you interpret that event in light of who you think God is. That&#8217;s theology. And what we believe about God shapes what we see, whether it&#8217;s true or not.</p><p>If you have something in your life that is unbearable, or even hard, and you decided it&#8217;s because God is disappointed in you, that&#8217;s theology. If you think He&#8217;s just teaching you patience, that&#8217;s theology. And if you think you need to try harder, that&#8217;s your theology at work in your mind.</p><p>Every reaction to your lot in life rests on your assumptions about His divine character.</p><h4><strong>Suffering Forces Theological Decisions</strong></h4><p>Suffering exposes your theology the way a mid-term exam exposes whether you understood the material. You can say you trust God all semester, but suffering grades that claim.</p><p>In Job, Job&#8217;s friends walked into the exam room confident. They thought they knew the material. Their theology was simple: God punishes people for their sins, and that punishment shows up as suffering. If someone is hurting, God must be correcting them.</p><p>So, when Job started to suffer, they told him he failed the class. It was obvious to them. The test results were in: if God is just, and suffering is punishment, then Job must have really messed up.</p><p>But their theology assumed God runs the world on a tight cause-and-effect system. The problem wasn&#8217;t that they believed God judges sin. The problem was that they believed they understood exactly how and when He does it.</p><p>In this instance, Job&#8217;s suffering exposed the limits of their theology.</p><h4><strong>The Self Your Theology Creates</strong></h4><p>You are not only doing theology when you think about God. You are also doing theology when you think about yourself because <strong>who you believe yourself to be is inseparable from who you believe God to be.</strong></p><p>If you think you have to manage everything because &#8220;<em>God helps those who help themselves</em>,&#8221; or in order to be a good steward, that is your theological framework (though not a biblical one). If you believe that only God is sovereign, and that He has all the power to do what He wills, and His will is for your good, not to harm you, then that theology changes your anxiety, your performance, and your identity.</p><p>In other words, your ideas of yourself are born in your doctrine. Union with Christ, justification, sanctification, these aren&#8217;t seminary topics only. They shape how you will wake up tomorrow.</p><h4>Messianic Over-Functioning</h4><p>None of us operates in a theological vacuum. We are all absorbing cultural assumptions, family narratives, and emotional reactions from others and baptizing them as truth. And most of the time, we do it unconsciously.</p><p>This is nothing new to the church. That&#8217;s why creeds were written. Not to make us all academics, but to safeguard us from distorted images of God. And that&#8217;s why I have the practice of taking my theology and seeing how it functions practically and emotionally in my life. I want to protect myself from misreading God in my nature, the world, and the actions of the enemy.</p><p>The difference between your spiritual stability and your spiritual turbulence comes down to whether your beliefs align with who He has revealed Himself to be.</p><p>If you have ever thought:</p><p><em>&#8220;Everything depends on me.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;I have to fix this.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;If I fail, everything falls apart.&#8221; </em>Then you know what you functionally believe about God, sovereignty, and your human responsibility.</p><p>Even if you say you trust God, your nervous system behaves as though the universe runs on your vigilance, on your ability to manage everything. And that is the fuel for anxiety. That doesn&#8217;t mean every experience of anxiety is theological error. We are physical people with nervous systems, shaped by our trauma, our chemistry, and our history, but even within those realities, what we believe about God shapes how we interpret what we feel.</p><p>If you believe that if you relax, chaos wins, that tells us you are trying to do a job that was never yours to do. Someone once called the feeling that you have to fix everything, messianic over-functioning, and I think that&#8217;s a great term. It&#8217;s burdened self-salvation, the Savior complex, and it elevates your ability to repair stuff above His divine timing.</p><h4>Anxiety&#8217;s Creed</h4><p>For a lot of us who struggle with anxiety, this is our theology, and it hurts to even say it:</p><p>The system is only as strong as my performance.</p><p>His grace is not enough to sustain failure, mine or theirs.</p><p>My preparation holds everything together.</p><p>I have to step in, in case God doesn&#8217;t.</p><p>If I don&#8217;t act, nothing changes.</p><p>My action is the stabilizing force.</p><p>If I relax, chaos wins.</p><p>These statements imply something about God&#8217;s sovereignty, presence, and trustworthiness. That is theology by implication.</p><h4>The Reality</h4><p>But true Biblical theology says this:</p><p>The system is upheld by God&#8217;s sustaining power, not my consistency.</p><p>His grace is most visible at the point of our failure.</p><p>My competence is a contribution; God&#8217;s sovereignty is the foundation.</p><p>God&#8217;s activity does not depend on my intervention.</p><p>Change ultimately flows from God&#8217;s will, not human urgency.</p><p>Christ is the stabilizing force; I am a participant.</p><p>Rest is an act of trust, not negligence.</p><p>God can be trusted even when it looks like He can&#8217;t.</p><h4>Examine Your Creed</h4><p>Your theology is what you believe about God and the implications of that belief on your emotional system.</p><p>So, the ultimate question isn&#8217;t whether you are a theologian because you just are. The question is, what kind of theologian are you becoming under pressure?</p><p>When anxiety rises, listen carefully to the sentences that surface in your mind. They aren&#8217;t random. They are your creeds.</p><p><em>&#8220;Everything depends on me.&#8221;<br>&#8220;If I don&#8217;t hold this together, it will fall apart.&#8221;<br>&#8220;If I rest, something will break.&#8221;</em></p><p>Those are theological statements. And if your body is exhausted, tight, vigilant, it may be faithfully responding to the god you believe in.</p><p>So maybe the work isn&#8217;t first to calm the nervous system, maybe it&#8217;s to examine your creed.</p><p>What do you actually believe about sovereignty?<br>About grace?<br>About how much of the universe is riding on your shoulders?</p><p>And if you discovered that you have been unconsciously carrying a role that was never assigned to you, what would it feel like to set it down?</p><p>I&#8217;m not asking you to answer that right this second, just notice what comes up today, tomorrow, or the next day. Pressure has a way of revealing the creed we actually live by.</p><p>If you&#8217;re noticing anything about your own thinking on this, please share. I&#8217;d love to hear your thoughts.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[When Everything Depends On You]]></title><description><![CDATA[how your interpretation of God shapes your world]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-everything-feels-like-it-depends-on-you-christian-anxiety</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-everything-feels-like-it-depends-on-you-christian-anxiety</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:03:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><blockquote><h5>&#127911; <strong>Audio (12 mins)  - </strong><em>I talked through this in audio form if you&#8217;d rather listen.</em></h5><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp" width="1456" height="1048" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1048,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:76204,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/188172845?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KxOR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F189505c8-36ce-41a8-9263-73f0a273a864_1456x1048.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div></blockquote><h1>When Everything Depends On You</h1><p>When everything depends on you, you feel it, in your bones, in your stomach, in your heart. The pressure can feel like the weight of the world is on you. And if you let go for a second, that world will roll right out of your hands and out of your control. So you keep your hands on the ball. You stay alert. You hold it together. You keep stepping in, just in case everything really <em>does</em> depend on you.</p><p>But you don&#8217;t just <em>feel</em> the weight of the world; you <em>interpret</em> its reliance on you through the filter of what you believe about God. And anxiety reveals that filter.</p><p>Which means anxiety is not just what we feel, it&#8217;s how we interpret life. And when that interpretation involves God, we are doing theology.</p><p><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/does-god-exist">Theology</a> is reasoning about God; it&#8217;s how we interpret our lives in relation to who He is. That means the moment anyone answers the questions :</p><p>    Who is God? <br>    What is He like? <br>    How does He relate to me? <br>    What does He require? <br>    What can I expect from Him?</p><p>We all <em>do</em> theology. We just don&#8217;t always know that&#8217;s what we are doing. But in order to believe, you have to interpret. When anything happens in your life, suffering, an unanswered prayer, anxiety, a closed door, you interpret that event in light of who you think God is. That&#8217;s theology. And what we believe about God shapes what we see, whether it&#8217;s true or not.</p><p>If you have something in your life that is unbearable, or even hard, and you decided it&#8217;s because God is disappointed in you, that&#8217;s theology. If you think He&#8217;s just teaching you patience, that&#8217;s theology. And if you think you need to try harder, that&#8217;s your theology at work in your mind.</p><p>Every reaction to your lot in life rests on your assumptions about His divine character.</p><h4><strong>Suffering Forces Theological Decisions</strong></h4><p>Suffering exposes your theology the way a mid-term exam exposes whether you understood the material. You can say you trust God all semester, but suffering grades that claim.</p><p>In Job, Job&#8217;s friends walked into the exam room confident. They thought they knew the material. Their theology was simple: God punishes people for their sins, and that punishment shows up as suffering. If someone is hurting, God must be correcting them.</p><p>So, when Job started to suffer, they told him he failed the class. It was obvious to them. The test results were in: if God is just, and suffering is punishment, then Job must have really messed up.</p><p>But their theology assumed God runs the world on a tight cause-and-effect system. The problem wasn&#8217;t that they believed God judges sin. The problem was that they believed they understood exactly how and when He does it.</p><p>In this instance, Job&#8217;s suffering exposed the limits of their theology.</p><h4><strong>The Self Your Theology Creates</strong></h4><p>You are not only doing theology when you think about God. You are also doing theology when you think about yourself because <strong>who you believe yourself to be is inseparable from who you believe God to be.</strong></p><p>If you think you have to manage everything because &#8220;<em>God helps those who help themselves</em>,&#8221; or in order to be a good steward, that is your theological framework (though not a biblical one). If you believe that only God is sovereign, and that He has all the power to do what He wills, and His will is for your good, not to harm you, then that theology changes your anxiety, your performance, and your identity.</p><p>In other words, your ideas of yourself are born in your doctrine. Union with Christ, justification, sanctification, these aren&#8217;t seminary topics only. They shape how you will wake up tomorrow.</p><h4>Messianic Over-Functioning</h4><p>None of us operates in a theological vacuum. We are all absorbing cultural assumptions, family narratives, and emotional reactions from others and baptizing them as truth. And most of the time, we do it unconsciously.</p><p>This is nothing new to the church. That&#8217;s why creeds were written. Not to make us all academics, but to safeguard us from distorted images of God. And that&#8217;s why I have the practice of taking my theology and seeing how it functions practically and emotionally in my life. I want to protect myself from misreading God in my nature, the world, and the actions of the enemy.</p><p>The difference between your spiritual stability and your spiritual turbulence comes down to whether your beliefs align with who He has revealed Himself to be.</p><p>If you have ever thought:</p><p><em>&#8220;Everything depends on me.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;I have to fix this.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;If I fail, everything falls apart.&#8221; </em>Then you know what you functionally believe about God, sovereignty, and your human responsibility. </p><p>Even if you say you trust God, your nervous system behaves as though the universe runs on your vigilance, on your ability to manage everything. And that is the fuel for anxiety. That doesn&#8217;t mean every experience of anxiety is theological error. We are physical people with nervous systems, shaped by our trauma, our chemistry, and our history, but even within those realities, what we believe about God shapes how we interpret what we feel. </p><p>If you believe that if you relax, chaos wins, that tells us you are trying to do a job that was never yours to do. Someone once called the feeling that you have to fix everything, messianic over-functioning, and I think that&#8217;s a great term. It&#8217;s burdened self-salvation, the Savior complex, and it elevates your ability to repair stuff above His divine timing.</p><h4>Anxiety&#8217;s Creed</h4><p>For a lot of us who struggle with anxiety, this is our theology, and it hurts to even say it:</p><p>     The system is only as strong as my performance.</p><p>     His grace is not enough to sustain failure, mine or theirs.</p><p>     My preparation holds everything together.</p><p>     I have to step in, in case God doesn&#8217;t.</p><p>     If I don&#8217;t act, nothing changes.</p><p>     My action is the stabilizing force.</p><p>     If I relax, chaos wins.</p><p>These statements imply something about God&#8217;s sovereignty, presence, and trustworthiness. That is theology by implication.</p><h4>The Reality</h4><p>But true Biblical theology says this:</p><p>     The system is upheld by God&#8217;s sustaining power, not my consistency.</p><p>     His grace is most visible at the point of our failure.</p><p>     My competence is a contribution; God&#8217;s sovereignty is the foundation.</p><p>     God&#8217;s activity does not depend on my intervention.</p><p>     Change ultimately flows from God&#8217;s will, not human urgency.</p><p>     Christ is the stabilizing force; I am a participant.</p><p>     Rest is an act of trust, not negligence.</p><p>     God can be trusted even when it looks like He can&#8217;t.</p><h4>Examine Your Creed</h4><p>Your theology is what you believe about God and the implications of that belief on your emotional system.</p><p>So, the ultimate question isn&#8217;t whether you are a theologian because you just are. The question is, what kind of theologian are you becoming under pressure?</p><p>When anxiety rises, listen carefully to the sentences that surface in your mind. They aren&#8217;t random. They are your creeds.</p><p><em>&#8220;Everything depends on me.&#8221;<br>&#8220;If I don&#8217;t hold this together, it will fall apart.&#8221;<br>&#8220;If I rest, something will break.&#8221;</em></p><p>Those are theological statements. And if your body is exhausted, tight, vigilant, it may be faithfully responding to the god you believe in.</p><p>So maybe the work isn&#8217;t first to calm the nervous system, maybe it&#8217;s to examine your creed.</p><p>     What do you actually believe about sovereignty?<br>     About grace?<br>     About how much of the universe is riding on your shoulders?</p><p>And if you discovered that you have been unconsciously carrying a role that was never assigned to you, what would it feel like to set it down?</p><p>I&#8217;m not asking you to answer that right this second, just notice what comes up today, tomorrow, or the next day. Pressure has a way of revealing the creed we actually live by.</p><p>If you&#8217;re noticing anything about your own thinking on this, please share. I&#8217;d love to hear your thoughts. </p><p></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-everything-feels-like-it-depends-on-you-christian-anxiety?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-everything-feels-like-it-depends-on-you-christian-anxiety?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-everything-feels-like-it-depends-on-you-christian-anxiety/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-everything-feels-like-it-depends-on-you-christian-anxiety/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Real Enemy Is Not Who You Think]]></title><description><![CDATA[rethinking the ethics of enemy-love]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/love-your-enemies-meaning</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/love-your-enemies-meaning</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" width="4034" height="2690" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:2690,&quot;width&quot;:4034,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Two pigeons, one white and one grey, interacting closely.&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Two pigeons, one white and one grey, interacting closely." title="Two pigeons, one white and one grey, interacting closely." srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1761764700851-069dbd2997da?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwzNXx8ZW5lbXl8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzczNTczMDQyfDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"></figcaption></figure></div><p><strong>Enemy</strong>: someone who makes you feel afraid, anxious, suspicious, hypervigilant, uneasy, angry, indignant, resentful, jealous, defensive, rejected.</p><p>An enemy is could be said to be:<br>     someone who criticizes or rejects you<br>     someone who competes for attention, status, or resources<br>     someone who exposes your weaknesses<br>     someone who does not affirm your view of yourself<br>     someone who creates discomfort you can&#8217;t control<br>     political opponents<br>     rival nations<br>     ideological groups<br>     competing tribes or communities</p><p>They are people we are told to see as adversaries simply because they belong to another side.</p><p>Jesus acknowledges that enemies exist, but he refuses to let them define our inner life.</p><p>Instead, he says:</p><p>Enemies are real, but they are not the ultimate enemy.<br> The deeper enemy is sin, deception, and spiritual opposition.<br>   Enemies are not the best center of attention. God&#8217;s character and kingdom are.<br> No enemy is beyond love, but love is not approval; it&#8217;s the refusal to let hostility reshape your soul.</p><p>So here is my definition:</p><p><em><strong>Enemy</strong></em>: a person whose behavior should not be allowed to determine the condition of your heart.</p><p>And,</p><p><em><strong>Enemy love:</strong></em> trusting God&#8217;s justice.</p><p>If God is judge, protector, and final arbiter, then you are freed from the exhausting psychological work of policing your enemy.</p><p>Then the task shifts from managing your opponent to maintaining your heart.</p><p>Enemy-love is one of the most radical ethical demands in Christianity, running directly against the instinct to organize life around what threatens you. When we orbit our enemies through our anger, suspicion, or obsessive interpretation of their actions or motives, they end up controlling our emotional life even if they never touch us.</p><p>A jealous person might exist. A hostile person as well. The Bible doesn&#8217;t deny that reality. But your internal response of bitterness, fixation, rivalry, or vindication is the real enemy. That is why Proverbs says:</p><p>&#8220;<em>Above all else, guard your heart.</em>&#8221; (Proverbs 4:23)</p><p>The battle line in the Bible doesn&#8217;t run between me and my enemies, but between the Spirit&#8217;s direction and my heart&#8217;s instinct to defend itself.</p><p>I guess the real question we have to confront is: Is the real threat outside of me, or is the real threat the way my own heart is reacting?</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/love-your-enemies-meaning?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/love-your-enemies-meaning?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/love-your-enemies-meaning/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/love-your-enemies-meaning/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Spiritual Death Cleanse]]></title><description><![CDATA[clearing the closets of your soul]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/the-spiritual-death-cleanse-ca4</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/the-spiritual-death-cleanse-ca4</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:03:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" width="6000" height="4000" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:4000,&quot;width&quot;:6000,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;white wooden coffee table near white sofa&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="white wooden coffee table near white sofa" title="white wooden coffee table near white sofa" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1598928506311-c55ded91a20c?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxsaXZpbmclMjByb29tfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzE2MjY0NXww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"></figcaption></figure></div><p>I love touring model homes. When I&#8217;m in one, I feel like I&#8217;m where I&#8217;m meant to be, in the perfect home. And not because of the interior decorating, but because of the lack of accumulation.</p><p>You have to admit that seeing counters clear of clutter, except for a bowl of perfect apples that tragically no one will ever eat. Clothes hung up in only one color palette, and a remarkable absence of junk drawers in the kitchen, all make the entire house feel incredibly beautiful and peaceful.</p><p>Of course, that peace only exists because no one actually lives there. Model homes aren&#8217;t realistic houses. They&#8217;re demonstrational, showing you the factory settings of a house; what a home looks like before life starts living there. Before shoes piled up on the floor, and the front hutch slowly became a hot spot for keys, mail, and grocery lists.</p><p>The model home gives you a glimpse at how your house could be minus your accumulation.</p><p>And every time I walk through one, I say the same thing, <em>&#8220;I want my house to look like this</em>.&#8221; Not because I want a new house, I don&#8217;t. I just want <em>my</em> house minus <em>my</em> clutter.</p><p>I think the same thing about my soul. My soul is no model home. It&#8217;s lived in, and it lost its factory settings decades ago. Now, I&#8217;ve got regrets stacked against the walls and worries filling my closets to overflowing. I&#8217;ve hoarded years of uncomfortable conversations on reels of old movies I play over and over in the background all day.</p><p>But I&#8217;m tired of the clutter in my soul. I want to get back to factory settings and find my model home. And Genesis is the perfect place to start looking.</p><p>This is the beginning of a short paid subscriber <a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/the-spiritual-death-cleanse">series</a> exploring the idea of the spiritual death cleanse.</p>
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          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Have A Question For You]]></title><description><![CDATA[Writing is an unusual kind of work because most of the time, the conversation flows in only one direction.]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/i-have-a-question-for-you</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/i-have-a-question-for-you</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:03:48 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" width="3553" height="2572" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:2572,&quot;width&quot;:3553,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;a message in a bottle sitting on the beach&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="a message in a bottle sitting on the beach" title="a message in a bottle sitting on the beach" srcset="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 424w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 848w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1272w, https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1636333798006-993a9f2611e3?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHxtZXNzYWdlJTIwaW4lMjBhJTIwYm90dGxlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc3MzA2OTg2OHww&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Writing is an unusual kind of work because most of the time, the conversation flows in only one direction. I spend hours shaping ideas and sending them out into the world, but I rarely get to see how they land on the other side.</p><p>So I thought it might be helpful to open a little window in the other direction for a minute. I&#8217;d love to hear from you about what you like reading, what you&#8217;d like more of, and what you&#8217;d happily skip.</p><p>So, below are a few quick poll questions. Click whatever fits you best. There are no wrong answers.</p><p>And if you have thoughts that don&#8217;t fit in the polls, feel free to drop them in the comments. I read them all.</p><p>This is your chance to shape the experiment a little. </p><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:470423}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:470424}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:470439}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:470440}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:470441}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:470442}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><p></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/p/i-have-a-question-for-you/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/i-have-a-question-for-you/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"></p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"></p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Obsessive Compulsive Time Disorder]]></title><description><![CDATA[when the clock becomes your judge]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-time-stresses-me-out-christian-time-anxiety</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-time-stresses-me-out-christian-time-anxiety</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:08:10 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SqsT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66f94f46-9cb5-49a2-a346-d3bdffb881ae_1456x1048.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SqsT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66f94f46-9cb5-49a2-a346-d3bdffb881ae_1456x1048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SqsT!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66f94f46-9cb5-49a2-a346-d3bdffb881ae_1456x1048.png 424w, 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class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"></figcaption></figure></div><h5> &#127911;  <strong>Audio (11 mins)</strong></h5><div class="native-audio-embed" data-component-name="AudioPlaceholder" data-attrs="{&quot;label&quot;:null,&quot;mediaUploadId&quot;:&quot;7b740369-9d21-49a4-a881-f9cdec5495e7&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:694.0735,&quot;downloadable&quot;:false,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><p>There is a kind of discomfort that doesn&#8217;t come from pain or conflict or fear but from the clock. For me, the ticking of the clock is like the ticking of a timer telling me my turn is almost up, and if I don&#8217;t hurry, I&#8217;m going to either lose my turn or lose the whole game.</p><p>Time bothers me more than it should, I know. But ignoring it is like trying to ignore a splinter in my toe. Sure, it&#8217;s just so small and unassuming, but still, it demands all my attention. Nothing is technically wrong, but every step reminds me that something is definitely off, and probably going to fester if I don&#8217;t do something about it.</p><p>Time discomfort comes from fairly benign stuff, like being late, waiting longer than I planned, missing a green light, or just watching minutes slip by while I try to finish something.</p><p><em>These are small enough irritants, so why does something this small feel so big?</em></p><p>As I see it, there are two types of what I&#8217;m calling <strong>OCTD (Obsessive Compulsive Time Disorder)</strong>. One has to do with time interrupting my expectations. If something is supposed to happen at a certain moment, and it doesn&#8217;t, irritation bubbles up like a canker sore meeting hot coffee. Sure, you say the plan could still happen, and your day doesn&#8217;t have to be ruined, but this small disruption sets off a cascade of future disruptions where one missed second spills into the next, and then the next, and suddenly the whole afternoon is sliding downhill fast.</p><p>I don&#8217;t like cascading time; I like time that stays in line and behaves in an orderly fashion. Time that walks down the hill and arrives without grass stains on its knees.</p><p>But there is a second type of OCTD, made possible by the human brain, which, in general, doesn&#8217;t always treat language as metaphor. Sometimes it just processes it as a prediction.</p><p>So, when we say something like, &#8220;<em>I&#8217;m running out of time?</em>&#8221; Or, &#8220;<em>There is not enough time</em>.&#8221; It may sound like a harmless enough way to explain how you feel, but my brain is very literal, and it has come to believe that time <em>is,</em> in fact, almost gone, and that sense of urgency gives me all kinds of anxiety. I mean, <em>what will I do if time is all gone?</em></p><p>When we repeatedly say, &#8220;<em>I&#8217;m running out of time</em>,&#8221; our brains start treating time itself like a scarce survival resource, in the category of oxygen, money, or food. That scarcity mentality then triggers urgency, and urgency, in turn, activates the stress response.</p><p>Bada bing, bada boom&#8212;anxiety. Because something essential is about to disappear, and you definitely better worry about it!</p><p>For us anxious types, time itself is a trigger, releasing a cruel taskmaster: the clock, who makes life start to feel like a timed game where the buzzer gets louder the longer something takes.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You&#8217;re late.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You should already be further along.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You&#8217;re falling behind.</p><p>Tick.</p><p>You forgot something.</p><p>When you have anxiety, the clock is anything but neutral. It&#8217;s more of a moral auditor, fastidiously evaluating everything about you.</p><p>Pretty soon, your brain starts asking questions that have nothing to do with your minutes and everything to do with your value. <em>Did I do enough? Should I have started earlier? Am I wasting time? Am I going to regret this later?</em></p><p>Did you know that this isn&#8217;t how calm people experience time? For them, time is just a sequence, there to organize events without attaching any moral meaning to them. They just see the clock as helping them know:</p><p>First, I do this.<br>Then, I do that. <br>After that, I&#8217;ll deal with the next thing.</p><p>And so, when something takes longer than expected, their response is something like, &#8220;<em>That took longer than I thought. I&#8217;ll adjust.</em>&#8221; Are your eyes bugging out right now, like mine?</p><p>Their clock <em>informs</em> them, it doesn&#8217;t <em>accuse</em> them. It&#8217;s not constantly ticking at them, saying, &#8220;<em>Something&#8217;s gonna go wrong!&#8221;</em></p><p>Their minds assume something different than the anxious mind. Instead of thinking, &#8220;<em>There isn&#8217;t enough time</em>,&#8221; their minds assume something like, &#8220;<em>There&#8217;s only so much that can fit into an hour.&#8221;</em></p><p>My trouble is that time is like my shopping bag at an everything&#8217;s-free sale, I try to fill my hour with over an hour&#8217;s worth of activity so I can get all the minutes I want while time is still available for the taking.</p><p>That&#8217;s because my brain, like the genius that it is, is running calculations in the background, deducing that if time keeps passing and this isn&#8217;t finished yet, something bad is gonna happen. Like, if I&#8217;m late, I might disappoint them. If I don&#8217;t finish everything, I&#8217;ll miss out on what others are getting.</p><p>My nervous system turns time into a predictive threat marker with the clock as its warning system, acting like some kind of PR agent attempting to prevent regret, embarrassment, and failure.</p><p>My nervous system means well. It just wants to protect me. Bless its heart. But somehow that <strong>prediction system</strong> has become overly sensitive, and now time itself just feels dangerous, always.</p><p><strong>But time </strong><em><strong>isn&#8217;t</strong></em><strong> dangerous; it&#8217;s just out of my control.</strong> </p><p>Sure, we can influence it by preparing for it. We can plan carefully and start early, but we can&#8217;t command it. The clock keeps moving, whether circumstances cooperate with my plans or not. And that&#8217;s where anxiety tries to help us out.</p><p>For a mind like mine that feels responsible for making everything go correctly, a loss of control feels like showing up at the gym and accidentally running around the track buck naked.</p><p>Exposed!</p><p>But that exposure has two possible outcomes, and strangely enough, I <em>do</em> get to choose between them. Finally!</p><p>I can either attempt to take over more control and get more stressed out over time&#8217;s inability to do what I say. <em>Or</em> I can recognize the exposure for what it is: a glimpse into the difference between what belongs to God and what I&#8217;ve been trying to manhandle away from Him.</p><p>Turns out timing discomfort might be one of the most ordinary places where human beings discover they aren&#8217;t God.</p><p>In <em><a href="https://amzn.to/49nZE0A">Fruitful</a></em>, I wrote that irritation is one of the earliest signs that I&#8217;m not relying on the fruit of patience but on my flesh. <a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/daily-fruit-patience">Patience</a> is my reliance on God instead of on my preferred sequence of events taking place in my preferred time. </p><p>Most of us move through the day without noticing this pattern. All we know is that we feel rushed, behind, and slightly stressed from morning until night. <strong>Which begs the question, what do we do with this awareness?</strong></p><h4><strong>Renew your mind</strong></h4><p>While we all necessarily live within the constraints of time, this side of heaven, we have been taught to conform to the <strong>authority</strong> of time by assuming that productivity corroborates worth, efficiency proves competence, falling behind equals failure, and the clock determines our value. When you internalize these assumptions, the clock becomes a kind of moral authority telling you when you are failing, behind, or just plain insufficient.</p><p>But the Bible calls us to refuse the systems of evaluation that the world uses, and that includes the idea that time is your judge.</p><p>Romans 12 tells us not to be &#8220;<em>conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.&#8221; </em>And refusing to be conformed can include refusing the belief that the clock is your judge and jury.</p><p>Christian theology has always treated time differently from the world because of who God is. He isn&#8217;t bound by time. For Him, &#8220;<em>a thousand years are like a day</em>.&#8221; We, on the other hand, do live within time&#8217;s limits, but that doesn&#8217;t mean we&#8217;re supposed to treat time as our ultimate authority.</p><p>Renewing the mind on the subject of time means learning to see it as a tool rather than a judge. When we move time from the space of boundary to arbiter, we misplace our allegiance. Time was never meant to become the decider of our worth.</p><p>An anxious relationship with time reveals a hidden conformity to the world&#8217;s system of evaluation, where the clock determines our worth. We renew our minds on this matter by stepping out of that system and remembering that time belongs to God, not to the pressures that try to rule us through it.</p><p><em>But how does that actually happen in real life?</em></p><p>The way the mind changes is both fairly ordinary and magical at the same time. Anxiety is negative faith, having more confidence in a negative outcome than in a good one. Once your mind has formed those conclusions, it tends to hold to them for dear life unless something completely contradicts them. So, the renewal of the mind starts with baby steps, not a full-scale worldview shift.</p><p>Your brain learns through accumulated experience, which ironically, takes time. And we&#8217;ve all had a lot of time to complicate our relationship with the clock, but it doesn&#8217;t take as long to unwind the problem as it did to wind it up.</p><p>Think of it as interrupting an old pattern. Time is saying it&#8217;s almost up, you are running out of me, but instead of reacting how you usually react, speeding up or panicking, you make one slightly different choice.</p><p><strong>You pause.</strong></p><p>And you let the moment unfold long enough to see what actually happens next.</p><p>That tiny interruption is where you <em>start</em> renewing your mind, because your mind can finally observe something you rarely allow it to see: the timeline slipped, but the world didn&#8217;t collapse as anticipated.</p><p>God worked this out in the lives of the Israelites in the wilderness. When the people were hungry, and there wasn&#8217;t enough food or time in the day to get more, God didn&#8217;t give in to their frantic schedule and give them food for the week. He just gave them enough manna for the day. If they tried to store tomorrow&#8217;s portion, it spoiled overnight.</p><p>The lesson is the same for us as it was for them; tomorrow&#8217;s outcome is not ours to control. We all have to move through this hour and trust God over and over again with each passing minute.</p><p><em>Is that such a terrible predicament to be in?</em></p><p>Renewing the mind works the same way. The old instinct says, fix the timeline now. But the new response is different. As you stop looking to the clock as your judge or master, you start to trust that time is in God&#8217;s hands.</p><div class="pullquote"><p>&#8220;<em>My times are in your hands&#8230;</em>&#8221; (Psalm 31:15)</p></div><p>For example, imagine you run into traffic and realize you are going to be late. Your mind instantly predicts the worst: This is going to mess everything up. And so instinctively you start to rush, reorganize, apologize ahead of time, all in an attempt to prove to yourself that the timeline is still under your control.</p><p>This is where small shifts happen.</p><p>Instead of fighting the clock, you can allow the disruption to exist for a moment, to be still, in that moment, and know that He is God. You will head to your destination, of course, but you can resist the urge to panic on the way. Instead, let the schedule wobble rather than forcing it immediately back into place.</p><p>So, you arrive a few minutes later than planned, but the conversation still happens. The meeting still starts. The day continues moving in roughly the same direction it was already headed.</p><p>Just recognizing moments like that starts teaching your brain something new. The timeline slipped, yes, but life continued anyway. As the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us, &#8220;<em>The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit.</em>&#8221; (Ecclesiastes 7:8&#8211;9)</p><p>Your nervous system may have predicted catastrophe, but reality produced something far more ordinary. Each time that happens, the prediction loses a little authority. Gradually, the clock stops sounding like an alarm and becomes what it always was, a way of measuring moments rather than a judge of your worth.</p><p>Which makes me wonder if the clock was ever really the problem.</p><p>Maybe timing discomfort is just one of the places where the illusion of our control gets exposed. The clock is going to keep ticking either way. The only thing that changes is how we experience those ticks, as something slipping through our fingers, or as something safely kept in God&#8217;s hands.</p><p>I&#8217;d love to hear your experience with time, whether it&#8217;s similar to mine or completely different.</p><div class="pullquote"><p><strong>If you missed the previous four chapters on Experiencing the Comfort of God in Your Discomfort, you can read them here: </strong><em><strong><br><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-does-god-feel-absent">Chapter 1</a> - </strong>When Discomfort Feels Like Abandonment<strong><br><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/finding-comfort-in-your-discomfort">Chapter 2</a> - </strong>What Do You Do With a God Who Doesn&#8217;t Fix It?<strong><br><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/is-discomfort-proof-youre-doing-something">Chapter 3 </a>- </strong>Is Discomfort Proof You&#8217;re Doing Something Wrong?<strong><br><a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/one-dangerous-little-word-that-fuels">Chapter 4</a> - </strong></em>One Dangerous Little Word That Fuels Anxiety</p></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">I love keeping this blog free, but if you&#8217;d like to support this work and help make it available to others, consider upgrading your subscription for the price of a coffee.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="captioned-button-wrap" 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comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/why-time-stresses-me-out-christian-time-anxiety/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Spiritual Death Cleanse (Part 1)]]></title><description><![CDATA[making room for love]]></description><link>https://www.godgirl.com/p/the-spiritual-death-cleanse</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.godgirl.com/p/the-spiritual-death-cleanse</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hayley DiMarco]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:08:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic" width="1456" height="1048" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1048,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:89962,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.godgirl.com/i/189670943?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFcB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6694896-6766-4875-b472-8318fd8c4837_1456x1048.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Like the back of my closet, leave life alone long enough, and things start to pile up. Regrets stack up without any effort. Old offenses get shoved into drawers. Broken relationships get put into boxes and labeled, &#8220;Do not touch.&#8221; </p><p>And when things pile up long enough, eventually, someone has to clean it up.</p><p>In Sweden, there&#8217;s a name for this practice: <strong>death cleaning</strong>. It&#8217;s the process of decluttering and organizing your <em>home</em>, not to beautify or impress, but to lighten the load for those you&#8217;ll eventually leave behind. It&#8217;s practical, purposeful, and, in a way, quite grace-filled. It&#8217;s a final act of care, a way of saying, &#8220;I don&#8217;t want my things to become your burden.&#8221;</p><p>Most of us understand the wisdom of clearing out a house before the end of life arrives. The harder question is whether the same thing might be needed in the soul.</p><p>If the Swedish death cleanse is about sorting through the things that clutter your house, the <em>spiritual</em> death cleanse is about clearing away the clutter in your heart, made up of all the things that keep you from loving well.</p><p>(If you want a deeper look at what I mean by loving well, I wrote about it in the love chapter of <em>Fruitful</em> <a href="https://www.godgirl.com/p/when-the-fruit-doesnt-match-the-tree">here</a>.)</p><p>This idea of a spiritual death cleanse first took shape while I was writing a devotional called <em>Deathless, preparing for eternal life</em>. I kept thinking about how spiritual health involves letting go of things that quietly take up space in the heart, things like resentment, bitterness, and discontent, and it started to feel less like a single spiritual struggle and more like a kind of clutter, the kind that slowly fills a space until it defines the room. </p><p>The longer I thought about it, the more I realized this kind of clearing isn&#8217;t only for end-of-life preparations, but belongs to every season, because none of us benefits from carrying what weighs down our ability to love.</p><p>So, instead of asking <em>what sparks joy,</em> the spiritual death cleanse asks <em>what strengthens love</em>, a question that exposes things we rarely think of examining: our beliefs, our thoughts, and our relationships. The feelings we rehearse and protect. The grudges we hold. The fears we justify. Some of these seem harmless enough to keep, but they quietly crowd out the love that could have filled their place.</p><p>By contrast, a life that is spiritually <em>uncluttered</em> leaves something better than organized belongings. It leaves peace, forgiveness, and a love that was actually lived.</p><p><strong>This is the beginning of a short paid subscriber series exploring what a spiritual death cleanse looks like.</strong></p><p></p>
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