“The very challenge to rejoicing is anxiety. Look at verse six: Do not be anxious. That’s a funny statement. Think about this for a second. Paul is saying, do not be anxious, right? Paul says do not be anxious, as if it’s a choice. He says, do not be anxious as if it’s as easy as me turning off this microphone at the click of a button. But you and I both know that it never feels like a choice when you are anxious, right? It never feels like a choice. When the situation happens, and you can’t figure out what’s going on. And you can’t solve the issue, and you don’t trust that God can solve the issue, and you’re anxious. … If anxiety keeps you from rejoicing, then you’re choosing to submit to anxiety more than rejoicing in the Lord. … No one chooses to be anxious, but we do choose to stay anxious.”

-from a sermon on Philippians 4:4-8 by Curt Allen, via Radical Womanhood

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