Combatting Anxiety

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

Imagine going on a hike through the forest and getting lost. What was supposed to be a 2-hour hike has suddenly turned into an 8-hour ordeal. You feel like you’re going in circles so you try a change in tactics. Instead of continuing to hike, you stop, find the tallest climbable tree, and you start climbing. You climb until you can see over the canopy of the forest. Once you get 50 feet up your perspective changes. You spot a dirt road in the distance, climb back down, and head towards civilization once again. What you needed was to get above the chaos in front of you. You needed to be able to see further out. You needed to see the same terrain differently.
 
This is what praying with thanksgiving does.
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Praying with thanksgiving in the middle of anxious moments is like climbing a tree to get above the chaos in front of you.
 
Praying with thanksgiving in the middle of anxious moments means intentionally climbing a tree to see your world differently.

Once you climb back down that tree and start heading for that dirt road, what are you going to be thinking? You’re going to think: “Why didn’t I do that sooner? I wasted all this time and energy when I could have done that right away."
 
You’re going to think, “Wow, now that I’ve seen the terrain, the chaos in front of me doesn’t seem so bad. After seeing the big picture, what’s in front of me seems less scary."
 
Praying with thanksgiving in the middle of anxious moments takes the anxiety out of anxious moments so they become just regular moments.

For more on this topic, this week I will be giving away two copies of the book, Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World by Michael Horton​. To enter, simply sign in to the Rafflecopter giveaway below and enter either by following me on Twitter, on Instagram, or on both! Winners will be chosen and notified by email. At this time, I do ask that only those living within the 48 contiguous United States enter the giveaway. Thank you for understanding.​

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