Anxious people live by what they feel.

 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head."

As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, "How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you." But Hannah answered, "No, my Lord, I am a woman troubled in Spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.”
1 Samuel 1:9-15 (ESV)
Hannah was anxious because she could not conceive children. Her husband's other wives continually pointed out this problem, and it was a continual source of dissatisfaction. Hannah knew the only one who could help her was God, and she poured her heart out to Him. Perhaps she would have been calm if she had known God's plans. I imagine the more she focused on those who continually pointed out her "deficit," her anxiousness grew. (There always seem to be people willing to point out our deficits.)
When we experience anxious thoughts, we need to remind ourselves of what we know rather than what we feel. If we do not know God, we will have no good option, and will suffer the fruit of anxiousness. If we know God, we will trust His character and the apparent fact that He has a plan.
Anxious people live by what they feel. Those who live peaceful lives live by what they know about God and His love for them.

The fruit of self-centered lives is anxiety.

 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. Genesis 33:1-4 (ESV)

We are often anxious about things that could or might happen. Jacob was a deceiver willing to take from his family for personal gain. He lived with the guilt of his evil, and the pain of knowing he had wronged his brother haunted him. When he thought of Esau, he probably thought of how he would have responded if their roles were reversed. His obvious guilt and running away from the problem caused his anxiety.

All of this could have been avoided by doing what was right or, after failure, humbling oneself and doing whatever was necessary to make it right. Esau slept fine, while Jacob tossed and turned with worry. In the end, Jacob saw his anxiety as a total waste of time and energy.
The fruit of self-centered lives is anxiety. The fruit of the Spirit is life and peace. For now, the choice is ours

Wanted

 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:5-10 (ESV)
 
There is no excuse for not serving God. He does not need our proficiency and does not need anything we can offer. He chooses to use us because of His love for us and His desire to include us in the outcome.
 
Being wanted by the Almighty is far more precious than being needed. God will use anyone available to Him, and one day rejoices in the extraordinary position God gave them in this life.
God is the great equalizer in that all can love Him and yield to Him, and therefore be positioned to impact this world significantly.
 
I am important to God, not to the outcome of His plan, but to Him. I am thankful

Created to Glorify

 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (ESV)
 
How do I display that God's power is superior to mine? Paul indicates that the beatings he had taken have proven God's superior power. The more his enemies threw at him, the better God's power was displayed, so God and Paul won!
 
We were created to glorify or display who God is in a Godless world, and life's circumstances give us ample opportunity to accomplish this mission.
 
Paul understood this principle and embraced it without regret. May I do the same.
 

Busybodies

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (ESV)
 
What would it mean to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified? This could be referring to the sin of "busybodies," which is listed as a sin along with murder and others throughout the New Testament.
 
Paul was not a busybody; he was a busy-body. He worked during the day as a missionary Paul, and at night as a tentmaker Paul. He looked for every opportunity to bring Christ to those with whom he was in contact, and he saw all circumstances as opportunities rather than burdens.
 
There is a reason God used Paul to write so much of the New Testament. Therefore, we need to pay special heed to what he has to say.

All we need

 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (ESV)
 
Christ gives things without status. He surpasses all the world brags about, hopes for, and portrays. He is all a person needs to find significance and security in this world.
 
"Luther says this: "Next unto my just cause the small repute and mean aspect of my person gave the blow to the Pope; for when I began to preach and write the Pope scorned and contemned me. He thought, 'Tis but one poor friar; what can he do against me?' I have maintained and defended this doctrine in Popedom, against emperors, kings, and princes; what, then, shall this one man do?"
We all know what the one man did, and we often see that weak ones who come in the name of the Lord of Hosts conquer where stronger ones have failed. The Lord often chooses weak things in order that we may more easily see that the victory is due to Him." (H. Townley.)

I Can Do This

 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV
 
Circumstances in life should not dictate our attitudes or purposes. If our circumstances change our purposes, then we have the wrong purpose to start with. God can make any circumstance part of the victory.
 
For example, the stoning of Stephen was a victory for Stephen. The crucifixion brought salvation to all people. Daniel and his friends brought kings into the presence of God through the fiery furnace and the lions' den. Noah saved the human race by building a boat on a mountain.
God deals with the difficult, whereas you and I need to know Him and obey Him, and we will be victorious.
 
I am thankful God did not ask me to do anything I cannot do.