Are you constantly worried — even about things you can’t actually control?

You’re carrying the emotional weight of your kids’ futures, your marriage, your finances, the decisions you haven’t even had to make yet. And you wonder why you feel so heavy all the time.

In this episode, I share a simple but powerful analogy I gave a client that completely changed how she thought about stress, responsibility, and interior peace.

We talk about:
* Why Catholic moms often carry weight God never asked them to hold
* A powerful analogy for understanding what’s yours vs. what’s His
* How to practically hand things back to God (not just say you’re going to)
* The freedom that comes when you stop worrying about things that aren’t yours

If you liked this episode, you’ll also enjoy: 
 God Gives You No Grace for Imaginary Problems
 Finding Peace When You Can’t Control Everything
 Managing Fear as a Catholic Mom with Lorissa Horn (Pt 1)

If this resonates with you — if you’re ready to actually let go of the worry — Mary’s Heart Martha’s Order is where we practice this together, week after week, with real tools and real community. Join us at catholicmomcalm.com/marysheart

And I gave her this analogy and it was so powerful. I knew I wanted to share it with you. I said, wouldn’t it be hilarious if you 9-year-old little girl was like, mom come here and sat you down at the kitchen table. And she was like, listen, I’ve been thinking about the mortgage and I’m really worried that we’re not gonna pay the mortgage this month.

I know that you need to pay the mortgage and I’m just really worried that we’re not gonna have enough money to do it this month. And so I was thinking like, maybe I could create a lemonade stand, you know, and like set it out on Fridays and you’re just watching her like, what is even happening right now?

And she begins to tell you like, and I could make some money and I could help us pay the mortgage because I’m just really worried that we’re not gonna be able to pay it this month. Just sit with that for a second. You’d be like little button. I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no problem with us paying the mortgage.

It is definitely not your responsibility. I don’t need you thinking about this at all. Not for one more minute, my little darling. Do I need you to think about the mortgage that is firmly in my domain? You do not need to think about it at all. And you might be like, if you wanna do a lemonade stand, that’s fun.

You are welcome to do it. Maybe you could save some money for a toy or something, right? Like we can turn it into a positive experience. Maybe there’s a desire on her heart that’s there and it’s good and it’s holy and it’s for a totally different reason. But she has taken on this responsibility that’s not hers at all.

And I think that’s what we as adults do. And the Lord is watching us like little boo. I love you so much. This is not your problem to worry about at all. How many things are you worried about right now that really are not in your domain? And for the analogy, right, this little girl lives in the house, the mortgage affects her, whether it’s paid or not, right?

So it’s related to her, but is it her problem? Should she be spending any amount of energy on this? No. And the same thing is true with the things that adult women worry about. They worry about things that God is not asking them to worry about. And I have another video on how we only get grace for our real problems and not our imaginary problems. So if you haven’t watched that, go check that out. It’s amazing. 

But today I’m talking about you literally worrying about something that you can’t do anything about. And so the example I gave my client, which was just the Holy Spirit, gave this to me. So all credit to God was Mother Theresa. Mother Theresa did not go into India thinking, I’m gonna solve hunger and poverty in India. 

She didn’t lay awake at night like, I don’t know. I don’t know if we’re doing enough. I don’t know if we’re gonna solve hunger and poverty in India. That’s not how she thought. She woke up, first of all, and prayed those missionaries of charity nuns. Pray a lot. And she said, we have to pray for many, many hours in order to be able to do the work that we do. 

And then they would go and they would serve the people that were in front of them, and that was their mission to be Christ to the people in front of them. So she did not carry the weight of a systemic problem. It was not her job to solve poverty, right? or hunger in India. 

It was a giant problem. There’s so much corruption in India and because they believe in a caste system, it’s really hard to change the behavior of the people there to create an environment that then gets people out of hunger and poverty. She didn’t tackle any of that, and she must have been aware of it, but she was like, I’m gonna go in the city.

And help these kids and these people and, and this man who’s dying and be Jesus to him and give him the most love and care and attention today to this guy that’s in front of me. ’cause that is what God has asked me to do. And she had so much interior peace and people just knew it. That’s one of the reasons she was so popular, is people just felt that holiness, they felt that interior piece that she had. 

And that’s the kind of mom we wanna be. Right? We wanna be the kind of moms. Where we are really present to what’s in front of us, and we’re putting so much love and charity into every act that we do. And sometimes it will be like really wonderful romantic things like baking with the kids or reading books. 

And sometimes it’ll be discipline and sometimes it’ll be just like holding a baby who’s screaming, and sometimes it’ll be giving space to a teenager who just needs to calm down before we talk to them.

I don’t know what’s going on in your life. But I know that God wants you to have interior peace and he wants to focus. He wants you to focus on what is right in front of you, and he doesn’t want you carrying the weight of the mortgage, whatever that is, right? It’s not your responsibility. 

Now, I do believe that God calls us to care about causes sometimes. That we’re gonna be involved with. And Mother Teresa is a good example of that. He called her to be involved in this cause she was never gonna end, you know, poverty and hunger in India. But he put it on her heart because he wanted her to do it.

And for my client, I said, you are clearly called to do this work. She’s very talented, she’s very good at her job. And I said, you were clearly called to go be Christ and do the best job that you can do. When you’re at work.

But we don’t bring it home. We don’t lose sleep and we don’t feel this crushing. She had like this crushing sense of guilt about not being able to like solve something that just really probably wasn’t gonna be solvable and wasn’t her problem to solve.

And it’s so clear when we think about a child who’s like losing sleep and worrying, overpaying the mortgage when you’ve never asked them to do that. And I’m not talking like a child who overhears you with financial troubles. I’m just saying like a child who wakes up one day and is like, I’ve gotta help them pay the mortgage. It’s so clear. It’s ridiculous, it’s silly. 

And I want us to bring more silliness into our life. So when you catch yourself worrying about something that just isn’t your problem, and God has not asked you to take charge there. I want you to be silly and be like, oh Lord, I’m sorry. I’m trying to pay your mortgage.

And he’s like, thanks doll. I love you. I do not need you to do this. And he, but he’s like, but I do need you to do this. And whatever it is, it’s gonna be in front of you and it’s yours and it is in your domain, and he wants you to do it with more love and with more charity. 

So, pay attention to what you’re worrying about. No matter what stage of life you’re in, no matter what’s going on, I super duper promise you. You can have more interior peace, that is the way that God wants us to live. 

Alright, I’m praying for you. Have a blessed day.