Where is God in my anxiety?
Words by Emily Cook
According to Google dictionary, anxiety is:
“a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease,
typically about an imminent event or
something with an uncertain outcome.”
Every day we are asked to
perform in a million different
ways. You strive to be a good
student, a good child, a good
sibling, a good athlete, or a good
musician. You try to get good
grades or excel in sports so you
can get scholarships and pay
for university. You haven’t even
accepted a school’s offer yet and
you’re dreaming about the debt
you’re going to have. High school
is a breeding ground for anxious
thoughts.
“Does it make me a bad
Christian if I experience
anxiety?”
It’s a question I’ve asked myself
hundreds, if not thousands
of times. We are told, “Do not be anxious
about anything, but in every situation, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God” (Philippians
4: 6). So when pressure starts to build in my
chest, my stomach ties up in knots, and I
want to cry or scream or run, I wonder if I’m
missing something.
A wise person once told me anxiety is God’s
way of telling you your trust or identity is
resting in something that doesn’t deserve
it and can’t hold up under the weight of it
(namely, something that’s
not God).
So in a nutshell, anxiety is
a good thing – a gift, even.
The fact that this verse in
Philippians 4 calls us not
to be anxious makes me
think God knew we would
be. So I don’t read this
verse as shunning those
of us who feel anxious. It’s
more about highlighting
what our response should
be when we feel anxious.
“…but in every situation,
by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving,
present your requests to
God.” Anxiety is all about
the response. It’s training our thoughts to
sense anxiety and recognize it as an early
warning signal to re-centre our thinking on
the maker of the universe.
This doesn’t mean we can pray for the
anxiety to disappear and it always magically
will. Prayer and petition means taking the
worries we have and trusting them to God.
It also means asking God to pinpoint what
we’re putting our identity in, that’s not
Him. Whether it’s success, pleasing people,
control, or something else, He wants to get
to the root of it, and free you from it.
If this sounds like a hard and uncomfortable
process, I won’t lie to you – it is. But the
result is so incredibly worth it: “And the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4: 7).
Take a deep breath, let it out in a prayer, and
trust God is greater than your anxiety.
Emily Cook
Sutton, ON
What does being a Christian mean to you? Knowing
my purpose goes far beyond this world and the cares
that come with it, and I can rest in the love and peace
only God provides.
Nicole Mason
Prayer and petition
means taking the
worries we have
and trusting them
to God. It also
means asking God
to pinpoint what
we’re putting our
identity in, that’s
not Him.
