The Melanin Unicorn Podcast
Welcome to the Melanin Unicorn podcast. A new dynamic and thought-provoking show that will take us all on a journey of exploration, inspiration, and enlightenment. I am dedicated to celebrating Black women's power, resilience, and unapologetic brilliance.
The Melanin Unicorn Podcast
Prayer or Worry: Choose Your Path
Have you ever caught yourself praying about a situation only to spend the next few hours obsessively worrying about it? That spiritual tug-of-war is the focus of this heartfelt episode where we explore the fundamental incompatibility between prayer and worry.
Drawing from Philippians 4:6-7, we dive deep into why these two responses can't coexist - because prayer is the act of handing something over to God, while worry is essentially grabbing it right back. With raw vulnerability, I share my current season of struggling to truly surrender my concerns, admitting how I've prayed with my mouth while worrying with my heart. This honest confession opens up a space for genuine reflection on how exhausting it is to live caught between faith and fear.
The breakthrough comes in understanding a simple but profound truth: worry is talking to yourself about your problems, while prayer is talking to God about them. When we truly pray - when we pour out our souls before our Creator - we're invited to lay our burdens down and leave them there. Yet so many of us metaphorically run back, snatch up our worries, and continue carrying what was never ours to hold. God is strong enough, wise enough, and loving enough to handle whatever concerns us today, and He doesn't need our help to solve our problems.
Whether you're in a season of struggle or simply want to deepen your prayer life, this episode offers both comfort and challenge. Remember to extend grace to yourself in the process - learning to fully trust takes time for many of us. Share your thoughts if this message resonated with you, and know that whatever you're facing, you're never alone. Keep praying, believing, trusting, and letting go - because we were never meant to do both.
Hello, hello, hello, my fellow unicorns, Welcome back to the Melanin Unicorn Podcast, the podcast where we slow down, catch our breath and center our souls. Today's episode is one that's been sitting on my heart for a while, and it's aptly titled Prayer and Worry. But you can't do both Now. I know that sounds bold, almost impossible, right? Because, if you're anything like me, there have been seasons where I prayed with my mouth but worried with my heart and full transparency. I am in this season right now. That's why I thought the episode would not only help me to refocus, but also help some of you that may be in this season as well. So let's talk about it, let's get into this episode, my love. So there's this verse. I'm pretty sure many of you have heard it before, have read it it before, have read it a number of times, have heard it preached in your churches, and for those who are listening, who may have never heard it, it is Philippians, chapter 4, verses 6 through 7. And it reads as so as so, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. This promises peace. True, true peace is peace, true, true peace. But how often have.
Kerry:We read this verse over and over and many of us have even have it memorized, and we still don't embrace or accept that this verse is speaking, speaking to you, it's speaking to me. It sounds simple, but living that out, that's where the rubber meets the road. See, prayer and worry are like oil and water. They don't mix, they can't, because prayer is the act of handing something over to God, worry is grabbing it right back. Prayer says God, I trust you, whereas worry says well, god, just in case you don't come through, just in case you don't come through. And friend my sisters, my unicorn tribe, I get it. We want to control things, we want answers now, we want certainty, but prayer is surrender. It's not a backup plan, it's the plan, the only plan, sometimes right, but let me tell you about a time, right now, that I'm wrestling with both, and there is situations that I'm facing something I couldn't fix, couldn't figure out. I prayed a lot, but my anxiety was louder than my faith, and I pray in the morning and and by noon I was spiraling With what ifs, lord, what ifs, what ifs, what ifs. And then, one night last week, as a matter of fact, I just got real, real, real with God. And I said, lord, I can't keep doing both. I either believe you've got this or you don't. Help me to choose to trust you. And that night I felt such a peace. My dreams were peaceful, and not because the situation changed, but because I made the decision to change, to trust God.
Kerry:Sometimes our backs have to be against the wall and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you just get sick and tired of being sick and tired of spiraling, of the what ifs, of playing different scenarios. Well, if I do this or and if I say this, the outcome is going to be so different, it's going to be so in my favor. And what if it isn't Right? Honestly, what if it isn't so?
Kerry:If you're listening to this episode today, or someone new finds it, and you're listening to it in the future, and you find your heart is tangled up in fear, I want you to pause, breathe and ask yourself am I praying or am I worrying? Because doing both will wear you completely out. And here's the truth Worry is talking to yourself about your problems, but prayer is talking to God about them, them. And when you pray and I mean really pray, and you know what kind of prayers you will birth out of your soul, out of your spirit, because that's when you're really really praying. Right, you are invited to lay it down and leave it there. Now, listen, I know that this is easier said than done, because many of us, we pray, we walk away, and then we turn around, we run back, we snatch it up and then we just march off right and then we just, you know, and then we have this thing like, oh, I don't understand what's going on. That's because we haven't laid it down fully and completely. And so this is a call to action, a CTA for us and for myself.
Kerry:When I pray, whatever the situation is and I have a number of them to lay it down and leave it there, even when I'm tempted to turn around and run back and snatch it back up, I may turn around or I may glance over my shoulder, but I am not picking those things back up, and neither are you. It will take time, okay, for some of us we are able to do it one, two, three but for others of us it's going to take a little time. And remember, I need you to have grace for yourself, I need you to have mercy for yourself, I need you to love yourself. You feel like people are pointing their fingers at you or are accusing you of not trusting God, of not being a follower of the way right which is Jesus. But have that grace and that mercy, because let me tell you something God has it for you, he has grace, he has mercy. He. Let me tell you something God has it for you, he has grace, he has mercy, he has love for you. We need to have the same thing for our self, and I want to encourage you today.
Kerry:You don't have to keep carrying what was never yours to hold or carry. God is strong enough. He does not need your help, he doesn't need my help. He is strong, he is wise, he is loving. So let's stop trying to carry burdens.
Kerry:We've already prayed about my sisters. Let's be people. Let's be sisters. Let's be daughters. Let's be queens. Let's be the person who pray like we believe. God listens, because he does, and he cares for you, and he cares for you and he cares for me, and that's it that we are short today, and just because it's short doesn't mean that it is not going to hit you right where it needs to Correct, okay. So thank you so much for spending this time with me. If this episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear about it. And if you're walking through a tough season, know this you are not alone. And until next time, keep praying, keep believing, keep trusting and keep letting it go, because we were never meant to do both. So be well today, go in grace and go in peace and have the most remarkable, beautiful and magical day. And until our next episode, we will talk soon. I love you.
