Anxiety

Anxiety is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I’m not talking about the occasional times you feel nervous or uneasy, everyone on earth experiences that. I’m talking about the crippling fear that seeps in during a normal day, when you’re living your life, going about your routine and minding your own business, just to suddenly get that overwhelming feeling of tightness in your chest, the fogginess of your thoughts and all you can do is cry/scream. Have you ever experienced that? I have, many times. 

It’s not the greatest feeling, obviously. Quite honestly, it sucks. 

But how do we deal with anxiety? Where does it come from and how do we combat it? 

To keep it simple, anxiety comes from the enemy. He loves to attack us with little inconsistencies and lies until they pile up and create a giant ball of uncontrollable feelings. 

I can’t speak for everyone, and there’s a lot of valid ways to cope with anxiety, but I personally do it with the Word. With Jesus. 

I fight my battles with the promises God has spoken out, and that alone works for me.

{I want everyone to know that medication is absolutely okay, and that’s amazing if it helps you, but that’s not my experience so I’m sharing mine for people who are potentially scared of, or not ready for, medication.}

When any anxious thoughts try to creep in on my day, I turn to God, usually at the first sign of anxiety, and first pray. Prayer is such a powerful weapon, y’all. Use it in your battles!! Talking to God and asking for His wisdom and power when you feel attacked is something to never take for granted. That isn’t always my first response, though. The last couple of weeks, I have been dealing with my own anxiety pretty heavily, in many different areas of life. At one point, I even found myself wondering “God, where are you in this???” I found myself questioning God, doubting His plans for me, and that only made the anxiety worse, as you can imagine. 

God showed me, in a few ways, that He is always there, and that the anxiety shouldn’t have any sort of hold on me or my life. 

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My all-time favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 41:10, which says, “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Wow. How good is that?? God is with us. Not only that- He is FOR us. God strengthens us, upholds us and helps us. 

God. Helps. Us. 

God is there to take you out of that space, to offer you truth when you’re being fed lies, to take your burdens and cast them away. 

Let Him. 

“Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 

XX,

Tay