Dealing With Fear & Anxiety!

We all have them. Sometimes they are big concerns like finding the right job to support our families or the suffering of someone we love who is ill. Sometimes they are little ones like spiders or snakes, lol.

But whatever our fears, they are real and sometimes loom very large. So how do we deal with them? The first step is asking ourselves, “Do we trust God”. Really Trust Him. Because if we do, then we know that God loves us and will not give us more than we can handle. There is a famous quote from Billy Graham, “God’s Will will not take us where His Grace can not sustain us!” And it won’t.

But we do have to focus on that! For me, after I pray, I also ask myself a second question. Is what I am anxious about uncomfortable or unsurvivable? And if I think about that, it helps. Because most things we can think about are surviviable. And I remind myself that if for any reason I don’t survive, I’m going straight to Heaven 🙂

There’s a third question I sometimes ask myself, “how long is this really going to last?” Really? 10 minutes? Three days? A week? Most things that cause fear or anxiety don’t seem to really last that long.

Fourth, a doctor or medicine is sometimes needed. Sometimes short term and sometimes long term. This is NOT something to feel badly about. God gave us doctors for a reason. There is a story about a man who was drowning. Three ships stopped to save him, but he would not board them. He said “God will save me”. He drowned and went to Heaven. And when he got there he asked God, ‘why didn’t you save me’. And God said, ‘I did. I sent you three ships’ :). Sometimes we need a doctor, and if that is the way God chooses to Help us, we need to take that Help and not be ashamed of it. Instead, we need to choose to be grateful that God made doctors.

There is another step that helps me tremendously when I am afraid. I picture God our Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit or Mary in my mind’s eye. And I focus on that picture and ask for Help. By putting all of my focus on God, there just isn’t as much room for my fears. And you know what else? After I have done whatever I needed to do or survived whatever I needed to survive, I feel free! When we face our “Goliath”, God rewards us with freedom and light 🙂

With God Anything IS Possible 🙂. It always will be. Short term, long term, God is in for the long haul, and He will give us what we truly need in this world. And when we get to the next world, there just won’t be any fears or anxiety 🙂

Jesus has us, don’t worry 🙂