3 Questions to Ask Yourself When You Are Anxious

Anxiety is something that we all struggle with at one time or another. Some of us struggle in bigger ways and more often than others. And sometimes, more often than we probably think, it's for physical reasons. But there are also so many other reasons we might be dealing with anxiety. A lot of times we have no control over those reasons. What do we do when we find ourselves stressed or anxious about something? Here are three questions we can ask ourselves to help us think about whatever situation we're in.

1. What Am I Anxious About?

• I often find myself tensed up while doing chores/projects/getting ready for an event and realize that I’m stressed out and anxious. But when I stop and think about why, I don’t usually know the answer right away. There are a million and a half reasons why I could be anxious. But if I enjoy organizing and cleaning, if I enjoy spending time with people I love (even if it takes all the energy out of me) why waste the time and mental power worrying?

  
  

• When we stop and question why we’re anxious, we can then find a solution. We can go to the only One who can give us perfect peace.

2. What Does God Say About This Particular Situation?

• In case you didn’t realize, we’re humans. 😉 Which means we’re not going to always know the best way to do things, and we’re definitely going to make mistakes. Unknowns can stress us out and I think that is a huge reason for the anxiety we deal with. But if you know Jesus, you know the only One who is all-knowing.  

  
  

• When we need a friend to lean on or someone we can share what's going on with, but everyone around is busy, we have a friend in Jesus, a friend who will always listen to us. When we don't understand why certain things are happening, we can trust that He sees what we're going through, and will one way or another get us through. But it ain't always gonna look like how we expect it to.

• Let's try to go to God and His Word first when we realize we are worried about something. Let's try to remember that He loves us and wants us to put our trust in Him. He knows what we need before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:8). I think He wants us to realize our need for Him. I think He wants us to humble ourselves before Him and realize we can't be in control of our own lives.

• Side note. God created us to live in community. When we're weak in our faith, or letting temptations rule over us, sometimes we need a friend to come alongside us and lead us back to the Word and who God is and what He says. I'm still trying to learn and understand the balance of knowing God is the only one I need, but also realizing God gave me fellow believers for a reason and we can help each other in our walk with Jesus.

3. What Am I Going to Do Now?

• You may have heard the quote, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." I think one of the biggest ways we could realize that is in our christian walk. When we're not daily in God's Word, meditating on it, and applying it to our own lives, Satan is going to try to hit us where and when we are weakest.

  
  

Practical ways to apply/memorize scriptures that relate to what we’re dealing with:

-  Changing our phone wallpaper to verses we want to meditate on

- Making bracelets w/the first letter of every word in a verse to remind us what each word is as we memorize

-  Writing verses on sticky notes and putting them places we will see throughout the day, like a bathroom mirror, car dashboard, refrigerator door etc.

I understand that letting go and surrendering our worries to the Lord is often difficult. Somehow, we feel comfortable in our worry and it makes us feel in control of the situation. But we are going to have so much more freedom when we choose to rest in who God is and His love for us.   

How do YOU deal with anxiety? What are your favorite verses that remind us we can trust in God and who He is?