I was asked by a freshmen in High School how to deal with anxiety. As I thought about what to say to a teenager, I thought to myself, did I even know the word anxiety when I was their age? I don’t think so. We had stress and even panic attacks, but the idea of anxiety. But as I thought about it, I could think back to some times when I did have some serious anxiety. I remember my heart racing when I heard someone say “what are you going to do after high school?”, or “go talk to that girl.”
Anxiety was there, maybe we just called it by a different name. But nonetheless, learning to deal with it is part of growing up. As I looked up ideas online, many psychologists suggest getting rid of the object causing the anxiety. But for most of us, that’s just not possible. Sometimes my kids cause me anxiety, but I’m not going to get rid of them!
So instead, I decided to look at the Biblical perspective. After looking up these verses and dwelling on characters like David, Nehemiah, and Elijah, I came up with this procedure. If you follow it, I’m sure you will get rid of all anxiety forever. Sarcasm is difficult on a computer. 😀
1. Find the root (fear of…) – Some anxiety comes from the fear of the unknown. You cannot control the future therefore your method of control is worry. The other comes from not performing the way that you want and you have stress of not living up to standard you set for yourself. Both of them come from a root of fear and control.
2. Understand the lie you are believing – The lie you are believing is that you can work hard enough, be smart enough, manipulate others enough that you can control the outcomes of every situation. You are also believing the lie that your worth is based on how you perform.
3. Replace it with truth – The truth is that God is in control and your responsibly is to do the best you can in representing Him through your thoughts actions and words. He’s Sovereign (look that word up) https://www.desiringgod.org/topics/the-sovereignty-of-god
4. Walk in truth – You cannot just believe the truth, you actually have to rewire your brain to go to truth when anxiety shows up. You can do this by memorizing scripture and speaking them to yourself when anxiety shows up.
Here is a list of some that can help:
Psalm 94:19
Proverbs 12:25
Matthew 6:34
Romans 8:38-39
1 Corinthians 7:32
Isaiah 35:4
Matthew 6:27
1 Peter 5:7
Philippians 4:6
Psalm 34:17
2 Timothy 1:7
Matthew 6:25
Luke 12:25-26
Matthew 11:28-30
Psalm 55:22
2 Thessalonians 3:16
John 14:27
Hebrews 13:6