Being settled down

I've had this passage open in Bible Gateway after a friend shared last week how she taught her daughter the well known verse 6 when she was younger. I looked up a few different versions of the passage, and came across the one below in The Message. As someone who has a tendency to worry, I found it really practical.

I love that we're told to 'let petitions and praises shape our worries into prayers'. When I've actually done what God tells us to do in the verse, I have experienced a feeling of peace and being 'settled down', knowing that He is in control.

I also love the idea of God making us into His most excellent harmonies - sounds beautiful!

Philippians 4:6-8 (The Message)

^6-7Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

^8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.