When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. Psalm 94:19
I confess that I am a wimp about pain. After a season of feeling invaded by treatments for breast cancer, my brain has moved into “protect” mode. So not long ago, I started to get really nervous about some jabbing shocks in my tooth. Maybe it will go away, I thought, and tried to ignore it. But the head-in-the-sand approach to anxiety never works.
Soon enough, I was hearing the words “difficult root canal” and worrying about how to pay for the procedure. And the next day, I walked shakily into the endodontist’s office, my mind spinning with everything that could go wrong. But allowing anxious thoughts to roam free instead of taking them captive never works, either. The doctor was gentle and patient, yet with each shot of anesthetic into my mouth, my heart rate soared. We were truly worried I might faint.
What was going on? Well, what was going on was that I was letting anxiety have its way with me. I had to get back to what I know is true. I had to say yes to fresh focus.
God tells us over and over that he is our provider. That he cares. That he is able. That we must choose to not worry about tomorrow. This is especially true for us as moms, isn’t it? In the national survey for my book, For Men Only, 81 percent of women have trouble controlling pop-up worries even when there isn’t something big going on—much less when there is! Yet, we also know that anxiety isn’t what God has for us.
We can’t always control the concerns that come into our minds—about our kids, finances, health, jobs or anything else. But we can choose what we do with those thoughts once they appear. Some people will say, “That’s just the way I am! I’m a worrier!” But, sisters, worry is a temptation toward a sinful habit of not trusting God. We have the ability to hand our worries over to God, focus on His promises, and have peace.
In that endodontist’s chair, I took a few logical anti-anxiety steps – I accepted a cold bottle of water and said, “Yes please,” to using the heavily-weighted x-ray vest as a blanket! But I also asked the doctor, “Can I have a minute?” and sent a text to friends to ask them to pray. I gave God all those worries and affirmed that I knew he was with me, even in the fear. Then I trusted that God would show up. And he did. I had great peace for the whole root canal procedure. I was reminded again that peace is not the absence of concern; it’s the ability to entrust that concern to the One who loves us and walks with us every step of the way.
Questions:
- How do you normally approach worry in your life?
- What have you found that helps capture the anxious thoughts roaming free in your head?