Got Anxiety?

June 17, 2009 | BY David

Do you have anxiety? Are circumstances in your life stressing you out?

Are you anxious about things going on in your life? Your marriage? Your kids? Other relationships? Your health? Finances? Your job? The economy?

That list covers a lot of ground and I’m sure there are many, many other things going on as well.

In my own life, I can point to quite a few things on that list that have the potential to cause anxiety.

But I’ve learned that I don’t have to let circumstances dictate my level of anxiety. The burden of taking care of those things is not on me…it’s on God. I don’t have to tackle any of these things, or any of the many unnamed things, by myself alone.

And why would God want to help? Because He cares for and loves us. Does He really need any other reason?

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

God is telling us in this verse to hand whatever is causing anxiety in our lives over to Him.

And you know what, He can handle it. But, we can’t.

We weren’t made to shoulder the burden of anxiety, stress, and worry. Not only can we not mentally handle it, but our bodies can’t physically handle it either. Just look at all the stress related illnesses and deaths to confirm that.

Additionally, in casting our anxieties onto God’s lap, we can’t keep any of it. We have to give it all to Him; every single small piece of it. Because in keeping some of it, a little anxiety is still anxiety.

If we keep worrying over it, it means we haven’t trusted God to truly take care of us. Doing that throws a shadow of doubt onto God’s love for us.

Don’t let situations in life get to you. Worry, anxiety, and stress will tear you down mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Not only that, but none of those feelings has ever helped a situation one little bit. Many times it just makes things worse.

1 Peter 5:7 is one of the verses on my list of scriptures I keep in my office. I refer to it almost daily, usually starting my day off with it.

So here’s how you take action on this:

First pray and tell God that you’re giving the situations in your life over to Him, that you trust that He’ll work it out for you, and that you believe His love for you.

Second, write down this verse on a notecard, sticky note, or make a list of scriptures. Keep it where you can easily see it throughout the day. Then as you feel anxiety creeping into your thoughts, recite that scripture out loud. That way you’re reminding yourself that it’s no longer your problem, it’s now God’s problem to take care of.

I hope this helps you as much as it’s helped me and have a great day!

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