When Anxiety Feels Like a Storm You Didn’t See Coming
Anxious thoughts are like summer storms in the midwest. You might notice some rumbles in the distance. Sometimes the breeze kicks up. Then you look to the west and see the clouds. Before you know it, the wind whips the trees and rain lashes the ground. At that point, you forget your plans. The baseball game will pause, the picnic is probably ruined. You gather your things and run for cover until it passes.
I can be happily getting on with my day. Or, just as often, happily sleeping, when the thoughts blow through. What if…I should have…Why did I… What is the Christian help for anxiety when these thoughts rush in?
When Your Body Feels the Panic Before Your Mind Catches Up
One concept you encounter in education about dealing with family members of terminally ill patients is the idea of anticipatory grief.1 Anticipatory grief is exactly what it sounds like. It’s grieving the loss that is about to occur.
One aspect of anticipatory grief is anxiety. This makes perfect sense. The future is unknown and scary, but we know pain is on the way. If you know a baseball is headed for your face, you’re going to wince in anticipation. In anticipatory grief, the person knows a searing pain is imminent. It’s as if their soul is wincing in preparation for the hit that it’s going to take.
Anxiety starts with our thoughts and emotions. And since our bodies don’t know the difference between a real baseball barrelling for our heads and an imagined one, they react the same way. Our hearts race, our breathing quickens. This is our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) in action. This is great if we need to run from a bear (or dodge a wayward baseball). Not so helpful if we are staring at the ceiling at 3am thinking of a stressful situation at work. These are the moments we need gospel hope for anxious hearts.
Why “Taking Every Thought Captive” Feels So Hard
If you’ve been in church longer than five minutes, you’re aware of the correct Christian response to anxiety. Our responsibility in these instances is to take our thoughts captive. I’m not knocking that advice, it’s Scripture, after all. But for me, I have to be careful not to add that to the list of things I’m doing wrong. Not only am I in this tense situation at work, but I’m also failing at taking my thoughts captive. Now I’m not sleeping, which means I’m going to be exhausted….
Maybe that’s just me. That’s why I thinking of it in the terms of anticipatory grief has been helpful.
There is a baseball heading for my face. If I don’t manage to dodge this, it’s going to hurt really badly. I might lose some teeth. I could break a bone in my face.
Philippians 4:6-8 tell us to: pray, give thanks, and abide in the truth. Since I tend to be a practical person, I have to be careful not to turn to the wrong truth for my comfort.
A baseball is coming to my face. If I don’t get out of the way, it’s going to hurt. I could lose some teeth. Thank goodness I have dental insurance!
Don’t get me wrong, I am very thankful for my dental plan. But my ultimate hope is not in Delta Dental, but in Christ. I need gospel hope for my anxious heart.
How to Fix Your Mind and Find His Peace
The baseball, the surprise meeting with your boss that pops up on your work calendar, the text from your spouse that simply says, “We need to talk”…all of those can leave us bracing for the hit. And the hit very well may come, and it could hurt. A lot.
And while we do all the practical things—pay our insurance premiums, avoid loitering in front of pitching machines—the baseball, if it comes, is probably going to hit us out of nowhere. Just like that summer thunderstorm. And yeah, it could be awful.
And so, as Philippians 4:6-8 reminds us, the Christian help for anxiety is to abide. I like the way the JB Phillips translation renders these verses:
Don’t worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus.
Here is a last piece of advice. If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on the things which are holy and right and pure and beautiful and good.
Gospel Hope for Anxious Hearts
Tell God the details, and his peace will guard over your hearts and minds (emotions and thoughts) as they rest. And fix your minds on the things which are holy and right and pure and beautiful and good.
God is there when your world falls apart. God is in control even while the storm rages. God is bigger than anything you can ever face. Through the painful and the awful. Through the confusing and the frightening. He is there.
I’d love to connect with you beyond the blog. You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, where I share more encouragement for women navigating faith and health. You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter.
Prefer to watch? I made a video covering these same points:
- Hudson PL, Thomas K, Trauer T, Remedios C, Clarke D. Psychological and social profile of family caregivers on commencement of palliative care. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2011;41(3):522-534. doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2010.05.006 ↩︎
I gave you the wrong email address at the top. I corrected it on this page.
Thanks, Terri!