How much more

The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that almost 40 million Americans will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder throughout their lives. 
I definitely have. ​

I used to really resonate with the Disney movie Girl Vs. Monster. It's a story about a girl who is seemingly fearless, and discovers fear and anxiety for the first time while fighting monsters and conquers her fears in the process. I felt pretty fearless throughout my first few years of college. I was confident in who I was, and I was confident in who God made me to be. However, when I realized how much I feared the future, feared the little things, and stressed out about the in-betweens, I started to think that I didn't know God because of the anxiety I was facing. 
Anxiety is so prevalent that Jesus Himself addresses it. We are in a world that is full of anxiety-causing things. Money, health, education, family: we are all worried about something even when we don't want to admit it. I surely didn't when I began to struggle with anxiety. The Gospel of Luke writes Jesus' words to His disciples like so: 
'Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life ? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. '
Luke 12:22-28,31
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It's comforting to know that God cares so much about us; that if He takes time to care for the birds in the sky or the squirrels in the trees, how much more does He care about us! Jesus' comfort to the disciples is not a promise that worries will not cloud us, but it's a reminder that God will always care for us. He who promises is faithful, and God's promise to us is that He has crafted us with more detail and intention than any other animal who does not spend its' time worrying. So we have this promise to cling to in our worried lives and anxious thoughts. How much more does God care for us: a lot more. So much more that He sent His Son to us to comfort us and to experience our inner thoughts and feelings so that we may be seen and heard and loved by the same God who numbered the stars and the hairs on our heads. HOW COOL. 
How much more does He love us? So much more. SO much more. 
Worries will come and go, the earth will one day pass away, but God really loves us. And He is with us in our anxious thoughts and will be there when we are ready. (pretty cool, huh.)