Anxiety is a theme that keeps coming up lately. More and more I am hearing that Christians I know are battling with it. Even at work, several of my clients have shared with me with tear-filled eyes that they are scared all of the time. One told me she was afraid to leave her house. The other told me she only experienced peace outside of her house. I believe that the body of Christ is in a war against fear.
Some of you reading this, may be suffering from anxiety as well or maybe you are just dealing with chronic worrying and doubts. Worry is just another manner in which fear expresses itself and displaces our trust in God. The following passage comes to mind:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matt. 6:25-27).
I believe that as we face the challenges of this life that the Lord wants us to lean into Him. I think of a child being carried by her Father. When any perceived threat presents itself, the child responds by burying her face into the chest of her daddy. When a stranger comes and attempts to hold her, the child clings even harder gripping daddy’s shirt with her tiny fingers. This needs to be our response to the threats of this life.
I am convinced that even in the midst of our darkest storms that we can find rest in God. Even in times of exhaustion, fatigue, and lack of sleep, we can experience what it truly means to rest in the Lord. We can relax in His presence, knowing that He is good, that He is for us and that His love is everlasting.
Remember that your heavenly daddy is your protector and comforter. Even when your flesh and your heart fails, He is the strength of your heart and your portion forever (Ps. 73:26). He is your refuge. He promises us that as we place our trust in Him that our strength will be renewed and that we will soar on wings like eagles (Isa. 40:28-31).
As the Pslamist writes in Psalm 62:1-2, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”
Whatever it is that you face today, whatever trouble comes your way, lean into your heavenly Father, take a deep breathe, and give it a rest.
