Do you or someone you know deal with anxiety on a regular basis? Have you found yourself overwhelmed lately? Do you have a loved one who can’t seem to focus, or they freeze up and turn to tears when stress comes their way? Those are just a few of the ways anxiety shows up in our lives, but in every case where it does, it’s good to have a simple plan in place for how to handle it, or how to help with it so we can face it responsibly.

Physically speaking, anxiety can produce a lot of others issues in our bodies. Headaches, joint pain, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat and the list goes on. I’m not a doctor, but I do know that breathing exercises are very helpful when it comes to anxiety. Controlled breathing helps us to focus on something other than what is making us anxious. The normal practice is usually: closed eyes, slow intake through the nose, count 1 – 2 – 3, then a slow exhale out of the mouth. There’s nothing mystical or special about that breathing pattern. The act itself is a forced slow-down and a renewed focus. It’s a great first step.

Mentally speaking, anxiety usually gives the perception that all existing concerns are crying out for immediate attention in such a way that healthy priority cannot be given to them. It can feel like taking out the trash, future loan pay-offs, the healthy raising of your children and your daily bible study all have to be addressed and completed at once. Again, this is where a pre-set plan of how we’re going to handle these moments is helpful. We can’t come up with anything new in the moment, and there is no freedom to thought. The aforementioned controlled breathing gives us the moment we need to pause and assess. The pause is to breathe, and the assessment is to consider the plan we’ve laid out. This renewed mental focus will help us take the most important steps. Assessment is a great second step.

But that’s the part we can play, moving forward, we’re looking for help outside of ourselves. Anyone can pause and breathe, but it’s our faith in Jesus Christ that carries us toward peace in the face of adversity, and an understanding that extends beyond the trouble.

Spiritually, as Christians, one of the first things we acknowledge is our need for a Savior. By receiving God’s grace and forgiveness of sins in Jesus, we are already surrendering and saying we need help beyond anything we could come up with on our own. This is actually very helpful in a moment of anxiety. Unrepentant pride actually makes anxiety worse because we think -we- have to be able to handle things on our own. But when we come humbly to Jesus to be obedient to Him, we’re already saying we’re not capable of rescuing ourselves. God Himself brings us to that place through His Holy Spirit through conviction of sin and a need to repent. So, in the face of anxiety, if we’re in Christ, then we have a “leg up” through that genuine humility. And humility gives perspective to our anxiety as we pause and consider how God helps us.

We already know we can’t do it on our own.
That was part of coming to Jesus in the first place.

Scripture points us toward the truth, then, that helps us to restore our calm, and provides testimony when we need it most that God will see us through. Memorizing a few key verses is good for fighting anxiety. But in the moment of anxiety, we may struggle to remember them. This is where having a journal, a notecard in your pocket, or a note on your phone is helpful. It’s a gift form God to have His Word handy in a time of need, but it’s also a gift that you can give yourself. Go to www.openbible.info and look at their topical bible. Type in Anxiety and verses that God intends for your help will come right up. Start collecting those verses, pick one today to memorize and begin preparing -through God’s Word- for the day or moments of adversity and anxiety. You don’t have the solutions, neither do I, but God in His mercy has already provided them.

Some people love Psalm 23, or Psalm 91, or Philippians 4…but I love Zephaniah 3:17:

“The Lord your God is in your midst,

a Mighty One who will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness;

He will quiet you by His love;

He will exult over you with loud singing.”

If I’m feeling worthless and small, I know God is rejoicing over me.

If I feel overwhelmed and don’t know what to do…He’s quieting me with His love.

I pause and remember this when I come to meet with Him in His Word. He is sufficient for all our needs.

No one’s life is anxiety-free, but some people deal with it daily, even in a clinical sense. Either way we experience it, we need to receive the proper care and have plans in place ahead of time on how we want to address it. And for the Christian, part of that means turning to scripture and retreating into the shelter of God we find there. There is rest for our soul, eternal perspective, and a very healthy reminder that we’re not the ones in charge to begin with.

Steps to consider:

1. Take some time right now to collect at least 5 bible verses from the topical bible link above to start preparing yourself for anxious times.
2. Learn how to pray from those verses so they can shape your heart before God in your anxious moments.
3. Talk to a qualified professional if you need help beyond what you find here. This can be a trained Pastor or a qualified Biblical counselor for starters. I recommend biblicalcounseling.com or aacc.net as starting places for your search.