Anxiety paid me a rude visit this past year. It moved to my shoulders and then my chest. I needed help.

Fast forward six months and, by the grace of God and with the help of others, I am in a much healthier place. I even chose to share about my experience with our church family, so give this a listen if you like. I followed the same advice I’d give to people if they told me about their anxiety:
1-Don’t neglect quiet time with God.
2-Find a Christian counselor to help you process.
3-Set boundaries at work.
4-Practice healthy rhythms (exercise, sleep, friendships).

During this season Psalm 37 came to me like a dear friend. I’ve read it dozens of times and thought about it often. It instructs us what to do when anxiety comes close. Take a few moments to meditate on it, and you will notice these instructions.

1-Trust in the Lord
The Psalm also tells us to not fret and to be still. My natural response to anxiety is to worry, obsess, and remain unsettled, so these words speak directly against my impulses.

Tim Reside, a dear counseling friend, says when people are in crisis, one of the first things he does is to ask them to breathe: “Can you do something for me? Can you just take a big breath in? Now can you slowly let it out?” God created us to breathe. Slow breathing calms us physically, which leads to calm emotionally.

I’ve begun a breathing practice, combined with the prayer of the blind men seeking Jesus’ help.
While inhaling: “Jesus Christ, Son of God.”
While exhaling: “Have mercy on me.”
(Repeat.)

This prayer returns me to a place of trust, a place of stillness, a place of rest. I’m reminded that I trust God more than I fear my problems.

Picture a father, arms extended, telling his little girl who has climbed too far up a tree, “Trust me. Jump. I got you.” The girl’s trust of her father can exceed her fear of heights.

2-Take delight in the Lord.
This takes it up a notch. Not only trust, but delight.

Picture that child jumping to her father, realizing that the leap was actually kinda fun. God has us in his arms safely. He’ll catch us. He’s got us. That’s amazing. Delightful.

Anxiety wars against hopefulness and joy.

The Bible doesn’t minimize or dismiss the things that cause anxiety (and neither should you). The Psalms are full of David’s laments and stress. God invites us to dump all of that stuff on him. He can handle it, which means we don’t have to carry that burden, isolated and depleted.

Sean Palmer wrote, “Living at peace in a world of injustice and troubles requires outsourcing your anxieties to someone who can handle them. Cast your burdens on Him.”

When we release our burdens to God, hope and joy return.

3-Commit your ways to the Lord.
The Psalmist commands us to:
Do good.
Give generously.
Don’t give into anger.

Hurt people hurt people. We tend to sin in our anxiety. We develop short tempers, self-loathing, giving into addictions, or running to other stuff to numb the pain. Not so with the child in the Father’s arms.
Even in our anxiety, especially in our anxiety, we commit to him.

We do what is good in the midst of bad things.
We give generously, not hoarding and afraid to share.
We respond to anger with gentle words, loving actions, and unthinkable kindness.
We are committed to God more than we are controlled by anxiety.

We keep returning to the words of Paul, “Do not be anxious about anything,” even when it requires effort over and over again.

Did you notice?
Psalm 37 highlights three words: “IN THE LORD.” We give our trust, delight, and commitment to the Lord. Nothing else will do. No one else will do. Every other substitute fails.

What are Scriptures or rhythms you find helpful during times of anxiety?