Jesus Christ taught that we are not to worry (Matthew 6:31), or to have an anxious mind (Luke 12:29). But Jesus was not saying that we should simply “not feel” worried or anxious. Rather, His powerful message is that reliance on God provides us with the ability to work through these difficult but very common feelings. It is important to remember not to obsess or ruminate about a problem situation, which increases anxious feelings.

Worry and anxiety can be caused by a variety of factors including:

• Our circumstances, especially when we are not safe or lacking basic needs.
• Uncertainty and lack of stability in our communities or society as a whole.
• Thinking pattern tendencies that personality and emotional makeup gravitate toward.
• Learned thinking patterns and behaviors absorbed from our environment.
• Loneliness and lack of connection in healthy relationships.
• Some people experience anxiety as a permanent symptom of a medical condition.

Many people face one or more of these factors during their lives, and if you have experienced acute anxiety, you are not alone!

Through my own experience with anxiety (my personality and emotional makeup gravitate that way), I have learned that there are multiple readily available tools that provide meaningful support to help navigate these feelings with God’s help.

Proactive Education

“A wise man will hear and increase learning . . . ” (Proverbs 1:5).

When experiencing anxiety, the default response is sometimes to avoid our feelings and think about them as little as possible. It’s difficult in the short-term, but much more helpful in the long-term to proactively pursue learning about them. There are many credible resources that bring understanding to the experience and alleviate fear.

When we have feelings that are both powerfully difficult and intensely personal, not being able to explain the feelings or why we have them magnifies their impact. Understanding the what and why does not eliminate all difficulty, but it does greatly diminish the impact.

What exactly is anxiety, anyway? Researchers Catherine Pittman and Elizabeth Karle define it by contrasting it with the very similar emotion of fear:

Both arise from similar brain processes and cause similar physiological and behavioral reactions; both originate in portions of the brain designed to help [us] deal with danger. Fear and anxiety differ, however, in that fear is typically associated with a clear, present and identifiable threat, whereas anxiety occurs in the absence of immediate peril. In other words, we feel fear when we actually are in trouble . . . We feel anxiety when we have a sense of dread or discomfort but aren’t, at that moment, in danger.¹

Understanding this distinction that anxiety generally arises from perceived or anticipated dangers that haven’t occurred is critical. It opens pathways for deescalating perceptions and anticipation to reduce or avoid the anxiety that they can generate. Understanding anxiety’s role is also critical—both what it is, and just as importantly, what it isn’t. As relationship and mental health counselor and author John Delony puts it:

Anxiety is just an alarm system. Nothing more and nothing less. Anxiety is our body’s internal notification that our brain is detecting danger . . . It] is not a permanent medical condition. [It] is not an identity. [It is not] a reason for giving up on connection and joy.²

Developing a clear and accurate perspective on anxiety’s purpose again opens pathways for healthy responses to what we experience. An alarm that alerts us to potential danger such as a fire or tornado is inherently a bit frightening, but is ultimately meant to keep us safe. Alarms are meant to get our attention and spur us to necessary action.

Anxiety can feel like an uncontrollable force in the mind and body that can’t be turned off or tamed. From that perspective, it feels like an unknown quantity that operates on its own power, which quite naturally makes us afraid of it. Proactive education greatly reduces that fear and allows us to redirect our focus and energy to identifying and addressing the cause of the alarm. As Delony explains, it’s not very helpful to “fix or disable the alarm system instead of putting out the fires and clearing out the smoke.”²

Proactive Emotional Processing

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties . . .” (Psalm 139:23).

Difficult emotions are unavoidable as we experience life. The physical existence that we inhabit is temporary, imperfect and incomplete—and we ourselves are too! Yet, we are often surprised and dismayed when we encounter uncomfortable emotions, and do our best to avoid them.

Challenging emotions such as discouragement, loneliness and grieving are indeed unpleasant. However, we feel them for a purpose! They are meant to allow us to recognize and respond to hard things in life in healthy ways that bring us through the experience, and help us to grow emotionally and spiritually. For additional guidance on processing difficult emotions that often generate fear, see “Facing Your Fears” in the Summer 2017 edition of Compass Check.

Writing simple statements about our emotions and talking to God about them in prayer are simple but very powerful tools that increase our understanding and ability to process them. Writing things down brings two immediate benefits:

1. The process of writing helps bring clarity to our thoughts and feelings.
2. Writing is a healthy form of expression that provides an outlet for externalizing thoughts and feelings that can generate anxiety.

There are many different styles and methods for writing regularly—don’t worry about doing it perfectly; just start and develop a method that works for you based on your preferences. The practice that I have developed is to carry a small, simple notebook and pen where I can easily write a few simple statements about thoughts, emotions, experiences and scriptures, or things I read and hear that resonate with me.

There are many readily available lists of words that describe both positive and challenging emotions available from various resources. Find one (ask your parents or another trusted resource for help if needed), and begin using it to write very simple statements about both your positive and challenging emotions such as:

• “I am feeling  . . .”—write the emotion and something about how you are experiencing it, whether you know why you feel that way or not.
• “I am processing . . .”—write the feeling and the emotional or physical experience that you aren’t quite sure what to do with or how to handle.
• “I am grateful for . . .”—write something that you are thankful for or appreciate. Regularly focusing on the many good things in our lives does not prevent us from having trouble, but it does help with keeping those difficulties in proper perspective.

To clarify, the goal of this practice is not to have more “positive” thoughts or less “negative” ones, but to perceive and process our thoughts and feelings more accurately. This means acknowledging hard things and not minimizing or exaggerating them, learning to see them for both what they are and aren’t, and developing healthy responses.

The best way to do that is to talk to God about what you write, because He already knows and understands it better than we do. He loves you and wants to help you work through it! As King David wrote, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.” (Psalm 139:1-2) God can provide understanding of both the present and any future steps needed that will lead to true peace! (Philippians 4:6-7).

Proactive Connection

“A man of understanding will attain wise counsel” (Proverbs 1:5).

When we experience anxiety, it is easy to isolate ourselves in various ways to avoid the things that we perceive to be making us anxious. Avoidance is an unhealthy response for two reasons. First, the things and situations that seem to cause anxiety are often only a signal that we are feeling unsafe at a deeper level, and avoidance delays identifying the actual cause of the feeling. Second, avoidance and isolation feed anxiety, giving those feelings stronger and deeper roots.

As Pittman and Karle explain: “[The] dynamic of experiencing anxiety and then escaping it by avoiding the situation just serves to maintain anxiety, and this is exactly what makes anxiety reactions so difficult to modify. In this way, anxiety can be self-perpetuating.”³ This is a daunting reality, but one that can be overcome. Changing our response to anxiety is most achievable when education and processing occur within healthy relational connections.

The power of talking to others about the anxiety that we experience cannot be overstated! Delony describes the powerful benefit of sharing genuinely this way:

Processing your thoughts and feelings out loud with a trusted friend, family member, counselor or group can be transformative and healing. Connecting with a loved one—in person, face-to-face if possible—is one of the best ways to quickly calm your anxiety and regain a sense of safety . . . Courage and bravery and vulnerability help quiet our alarms.⁴

These principles are found throughout the Bible as well, in scriptures encouraging us to help one another in difficulty (Proverbs 17:17; Galatians 6:2) and rely on the combined strength that relationships provide (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). In contrast to what we naturally feel and assume, sharing our difficulties does not weaken us—it strengthens us to face and work through them!

For additional guidance on seeking support from the ministry or professional counseling resources, see “Facing Your Fears, Part 2” in the Winter 2017 edition of Compass Check.

Summary & Author’s Note

The ability to turn negative thoughts, which contribute to anxiety, into positive thoughts, words and phrases using God’s Word can be a powerful means of reducing anxiety. God gives us information on how to handle any situation we may encounter in life. Internalizing these concepts and beliefs and strategies can greatly reduce feelings of anxiety.

This article is meant to share practical tools that provide value, no matter what level of anxiety you may encounter. If you experience general anxiety with low-impact symptoms that have little or no effect on your normal activities, pursuing these practices can help you maintain healthy responses that mitigate and prevent additional impact.

If you experience acute anxiety with higher-impact symptoms that affect your ability to engage in normal activities, take heart and remember, you are not alone! Pursuing these practices, combined with additional support and tools in each category, can have an enormous positive impact in equipping you to reduce and navigate anxiety in healthy ways. If you feel you are suffering from any of these serious conditions, talk to your parents or minister about contacting the Church’s free helpline, Light of Hope.

I know this from my own experiences, and I am confident that the same is possible for you as well. Notice that each of the practices begins with the same word: proactive. I haven’t used that word lightly, because it’s been anything but easy for me. To be honest and transparent, a lot of my learning has occurred when forced through difficulty into reactive growth.

But I am learning and practicing the benefits of leaning into discomfort and actively pursuing further growth. I encourage you to lean in as well, especially to writing and sharing. As Dawson Trotman, a 1900s Christian evangelist said, “Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and fingertips.” Through God’s work in us, the unhealthy aspects of our human fears, including anxiety, can be transformed into a healthy fear (respect, reverence, worship) of Him that produces wonderful spiritual fruit (Psalm 34:1-9).

References

1. Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Catherine M. Pittman and Elizabeth M. Karle, New Harbinger Publications, 2015, p. 2.
2. Redefining Anxiety by John Deloney, Ramsey Press, 2020, pp. 6-7.
3. Pittman and Karle, p. 129.
4. Delony, pp. 38-39.

 

This article is written with the intent of helping our readers navigate through mild feelings of anxiousness or worry. It is not intended to deal with more serious aspects of anxiety, depression or other serious issues. This article is based on the author’s personal experiences and the suggestions are offered for the benefit of the reader and not a replacement for diagnosis.