Anxiety Busters – Part 2

Good morning on this new week of Freedom Fighter blogs. I am so glad you are dialing in with us.

I am very grateful for the number of you that emailed me after my blog last week. We were never made to live in isolation, so to know that someone else has experienced what you have experienced is always a comfort and help.

Before I share the next set of verses, I want to make a couple of comments that I trust will be helpful.

1. If you have never struggled with anxiety, please be careful not to blow people off who do. Anxiety can be crippling for the person going through it. Don’t be cruel by saying to someone, “just deal with it.”
2. If you are struggling with anxiety that has gone amuck, sometimes we need to hear that we have to deal with it. That sounds like it contradicts what I shared in #1. Some people seem to enjoy staying stuck in their life, and they have done it so long that it has become the new normal. I have met people over the years who have settled into “this will never change so you have to deal with it” mentality. They really don’t want relief – they really don’t want to get well.
3. Dr. Pastor George VanSandt helped me when he shared that one of the major ways to break the chain of anxiety is to change the narrative. Our minds are so powerful and can keep us in our bondage. 

When I was in the height of my anxiety, I was so crippled I couldn’t drive in a car by myself. I had had several major panic attacks in the car. I would build such a case in my head that it would happen again that it was crippling. I learned from Van that I needed to change the narrative when it started in my brain. He said it sounded very simplistic, but it worked. When those anxious thoughts begin to start in my mind, I would sing, quote Scripture, preach a message, anything to change the narrative, and not give those anxious thoughts a place to land.

That is why using these verses is so important. God’s Word is the main tool in our arsenal that will help reprogram our minds and get our thinking lined up so that we can be free.

So here are some additional verses to add to your list:

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,^[a] will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. 1 Peter 5:10

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you^[a] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. Psalm 34:17

If you are a fellow struggler, I’d love to hear from you. I will be praying for you as well. Email me: bwelte@americaskeswick.org.

By Christ, In Christ, For Christ,

Bill Welte, President/CEO
America’s Keswick

Written by Bill Welte, President/CEO of America’s Keswick: Bill has been married to his childhood sweetheart for 40+ years and has four married kids and 12 amazing grandkids. He loves music and is an avid reader.