Safe in the Arms of Jesus: Even through Anxiety

Note: This blog posts deals heavily with the topic of anxiety. While anxiety is mostly a thought process that can be fought against with scripture and other thought techniques, sometimes a medical diagnosis is necessary. If you think that you might struggle with clinical anxiety, an opinion from a medical professional might be in your best interest.

My hands shook as they gripped the steering wheel. It was the first time I'd driven for an extended period of time at night before, and my parents had decided it would be perfect for me to practice for my driver's license by driving home from our Wednesday night VBS at our church.

No big deal, right? I'd been driving for almost six months at this point, and I needed ten hours of night driving anyway to get my license.

But the curvy country road had never seemed so long before. Sweat coated my palms, and my windshield kept fogging up. Another car came whooshing around the bend from the other direction and I instinctively slammed on the brakes, afraid of swerving over the yellow line and hitting them.

"Turn your brights on," my dad instructed, leaning over from the passenger side to show me the lever. "You'll have to turn them off each time another car comes towards you."

Great, I thought, swallowing hard. Another thing to have to think about.

My knuckles hurt from holding the steering wheel so tightly. My mouth was dry, and my heart was pounding. I knew how to drive- this shouldn't be so hard.

Every single scenario from driver's ed started playing in my head. All the horror stories they had pounded into my head to make me afraid to break the law.

Trapped in her car and burned alive. Hit by a drunk driver. Blinded by the oncoming headlights.

And before I knew it, I was in the middle of a full-on panic attack, behind the wheel of a car.

I wish I could say that this was a one-time occurrence for me. But it's not. It's the very real reality I've lived with for years.

By now, I know the points that will send me into a spiral. Things as simple as planning for my senior year, practicing driving, trying almost anything new, etc., can trigger either a minor panic attack or crippling anxiety.

And I would venture to say that I'm not alone.

Studies say that 61% of Gen Z have been medically diagnosed with anxiety. While that's not surprising, it is a shockingly high percentage, and it's absolutely heartbreaking.

So, what exactly is anxiety?

mentalhealth.org defines anxiety as "a common emotional state characterised by feelings of unease, such as worry or fear, that can range from mild to severe."

But I would go a step farther. Biblically, anxiety is worrying about tomorrow and taking matters into our own hands. It's our finite human minds declaring that we know better than God. Really, it's us telling the Creator of the entire universe that we can handle and control our own lives better than He ever could.

And it's sinful.

Reader, anxiety is not a simple little thought process that only we experience.

It is a sinful, flawed way of thinking, and a direct act of disobedience against our God.

Therefore I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? -Matthew 7:25-27

Jesus' words in this passage could not be more clear: we don't have to worry because our Heavenly father will take care of us. In fact, he commands us not to worry. Ignoring that command is disobedience from him.

Other than disobedience, it's frankly ridiculous. Who are we to try to wrestle control away from the One who breathed life into our lungs? Why do we think we could handle our lives better than the One who measures our days in the palms of His hands?

God keeps our entire world spinning, day in and day out. We can't even keep our own emotions perfectly organized, and we think we could run our lives better than he could?

Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world, and we are fallen human beings. While all of these thoughts look nice and tidy on paper, it's not that easy to just walk away from worries. How nice it would be, if we could snap our fingers and be done with it!

But our sinful flesh will continue to fight against the truth of the gospel and Christ's word every single day, and we will never be finished fighting this battle.

For me, I know that I will always find new things to be anxious about. No matter what stage of life I'm in, I will always be fighting this battle and trying desperately to move past it.

Which is why how we respond to anxiety matters.

"Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7

Our first line of defense with anxiety is prayer. Just simply asking God to come remove our worries and fill our hearts and minds with His peace, that we can't possibly understand, and yet peace that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ. This means that God's peace is a shield to our hearts and minds. It's a springboard for negative thoughts and anxious worries. If we truly rest in His peace, and trust him to take care of us, He will guard our hearts.

The beauty of taking our worries to God is that He already knows. He already knows and sees every single mental struggle we go through. He knows the ins and outs of the situation and your thoughts before you say a single word.

There have been many times where I can't articulate a deep prayer that explains every little thing in detail. I've ended up just whispering "Oh God, help me" over and over again.

He knows our hearts. He knows our minds. He knows our burdens. And He will keep us safe and let us rest in His embrace no matter what. Hebrews tells us that our High Priest [Jesus] is able to sympathize with our struggles, and intercedes for us before the father, interpreting prayers before they are spoken.

And the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26-27). He helps us in our weakness and guides our prayers when we don't know what to say. He searches our hearts and petitions the Father on our behalf.

How wonderful it is to be able to take everything to God in prayer!

Our Father does not shame us for our human frailty and weakness. He knows our sinful struggle with anxiety, and He welcomes us anyway, offering his embrace to shelter us from the world, letting us rest in His grace. His grace is sufficient, and His power is made perfect in our weakness.

"For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolitions of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ." -2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Our second line of defense against anxiety has two parts: to trap our thoughts and preach truth to our minds.

Reader, thoughts are not a passive action.

The enemy and our flesh primarily attack our minds. And we cannot sit idly by, trapped in our thoughts. Thoughts can be sinful, and with anxiety, they almost always are.

When an anxious thought begins to needle the mind, it is our job to take it captive and force it to obey Christ. This means using logic and scripture to remind ourselves of what is true.

What if you fail this class? Your mind might whisper. Then what? You won't get a good grade and that will affect your transcript. And then you can't get into college or get a job or-

This is the point to attack that thought with Truth. God will help me through this class. He has given me a strong mind, and the ability to study. And He has promised to never leave me.

Truth is a necessary means of confronting the lies of anxiety. It reminds us of our frailty and sinful nature and proves to us how faithful the Lord is. It helps us to trust in His word and promises, and the work that Christ has done. It renews our faith and helps us turn our eyes to Christ even in the midst of our battle with anxiety.

That night, as I pressed my foot to the gas pedal and struggled to breathe, I knew I had to confront this bout of anxiety. I didn't have the mental abilities to recite memorized scripture or say a long, detailed prayer- not while I was focusing on the road anyway- but I did the best I could.

God, I need you, I prayed silently, repeating the words over and over like some kind of chant. Please help me.

Then I turned my mind to the song that was so fortuitously playing over the radio: Still Waters (Psalm 23) by Leanna Crawford.

"Lord I believe you can set me at ease/turn this broken piece in me to peace and quiet/I know there's power in Your word/so I'll say it over and over til my soul's reminded."

The peace that flooded my heart is beyond words. I can't describe it or explain it, other than to say that God took my broken, weak and shattered heart, and gently filled it with His peace.

He meets us in the struggle. He makes a Red Sea Road for us.

So read His word. Meditate on it. Write it on your heart. And preach it to yourself in the struggles, making every request of your heart known to God.

His peace and comfort is inexplainable no matter the struggle you face.

Until next time, stay undistracted and keep an open heart.

Love,

-Mira