Breaking Free From AnxietySample

What is Anxiety?

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.” By 2015, anxiety disorders in the United States were the “number one mental health problem among American women...second only to alcohol and drug abuse among men.” And according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 13 [people] globally suffers from anxiety.

According to an October 2020 public opinion poll released by the American Psychiatric Association, “62 percent of Americans felt more anxious” than they had a year before. That was, the report said, “a sizable increase over APA polls of the past three years, in which the number has ranged between 32% and 39%.” Just from a technology standpoint, think about it. Today we have the internet, smartphones, computer screens, televisions. We instantaneously hear any news about global warming, the threat of nuclear war, terrorist attacks, and the emergence of recently discovered deadly diseases. The intensity of our feelings has never been stronger, and anxiety has never been higher.

Even as I was writing this chapter, my 13‑year‑old grandson, who was spending the weekend with me, had my blood pressure kit out measuring his own blood pressure. He told me for the last three months he’d been having “anxiety attacks.” When I asked him what they felt like, he said, “Pop, my chest hurts, and it feels as if I’m going to have a heart attack.” He even told me he applies a soothing oil on his arm to calm him down.

Here’s my definition of anxiety: A lethal combination of worry and fear that dominates your mind, saturates your heart, and devastates your soul, which then continues to linger long after the actual threat or fear has dissipated. It has far greater intensity than just being worried. People use worry and anxiety interchangeably, but according to Psychology Today, “Worry tends to be more focused on thoughts in our heads, while anxiety is more visceral in that we feel it throughout our bodies.”

Here’s the good news: The apostle Paul—with flesh and blood, sitting in a Roman prison, facing certain death, knowing he probably wouldn’t get out of that prison alive and not knowing what day he would die—understood anxiety. In the book of the Bible called Philippians, he gives us a four‑step process for how to escape the jail of anxiety. Both solid psychological advice and fantastic spiritual advice are found in Philippians 4:4‑7:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In just those three verses we’re led to celebrate the person of the Lord, appreciate the presence of the Lord, liberate the power of the Lord, and meditate on the peace of the Lord.