Prescription for Anxiety: Take as Directed Step 3

In the first blog, we discovered that peace is freedom from disquieting and oppressive thoughts. Peace is the prescription, the cure in fact, for anxiety. Each blog in this series has been a step for obtaining peace. Let's look at a verse that will help us with Step 3...Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You: because he trusts You."
There it is again...a mind fixed on God and godly thoughts will have peace. If you feel anxious, you automatically know your mind is not stayed on God. But there is a second part introduced here. Trust.
We must learn to trust Him.
When I was first coming out of the pit, I was so overwhelmed. I really didn't know where to start first. I thought, if God would just remove these difficult circumstances, I would be happy and trust Him. But God did not wave a magic wand and fix everything. As I was crying out to Him and asking Him what to do first, He led me to Matthew 6:33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Think about that and read it again!!!
He was actually saying to me, "Danielle, here's what you do first. You get your mind focused on me. You seek me and my righteousness, and I will take care of all these things you are worried about." I was SO excited. So, I went back and read the verses before to find out what things would be added unto me...in verse 31 it said what I would eat, drink and wear...in fact all things I was in need of...were the things God would take care of. It said He knows what things I am in need of...He's just waiting for me to focus on Him. After all, as verse 26 and 28 says, He does that for the birds and the flowers and we are more important to God than those things. Haven't you ever noticed that the birds always have a song...it's because they aren't worried about their next meal. They are not worried about anything. They know their Creator is going to provide. Getting our mind off of our problems and needs, and getting them focused on God, will bring peace. But it takes us trusting Him.
But there is more...Matthew 6:34 says this, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
This verse is a warning...a warning against looking too far down the road and trying to handle tomorrow's problems with only today's grace. Listen...Looking too far down the road overwhelms us and causes anxiety and depression.
I remember waking up in the mornings in those early days of coming out of the pit, and feeling this dread that would beat me back down into the bed. I would think about the day ahead or the weeks ahead, and I just felt overwhelmed and hopeless. I was defeated before I got started in the day. Well guess what!! I didn't know it at that time, but I didn't have to try to handle tomorrow's problems today, because I get new grace, mercy and compassion from the Lord tomorrow to handle tomorrow's problems. In fact, we all do...we all get new mercies every single morning! And when we recall that, we have hope. Just like Lamentations 3:21-22 says, "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness."
So, to summarize Step 3...First things first! First, seek Him and His righteousness. Then, don't look too far down the road trying to handle tomorrow's problems with only today's grace. Instead, trust Him to take care of your needs which includes new grace for the day's difficulties.
When we TRULY believe that He is working every single thing together for our good, we can rejoice in the face of hard times...this is where trust begins. Believing that God is able and even desires to do a great work in us. And it really helps in the dark times to remember that God's Word promises that all things are only for a season. It may seem like there is no end to the suffering, but God says, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29:11)
And I didn't plan to say this...but let me tell you what was the most freeing moment in my life. It was when my pastor said, God made the game and He made the rules the game is played by. He is God and you are not. In that moment, instead of being angry at God for the past and present pain or resisting God's authority in my life, I surrendered. Peace flooded...literally flooded till I felt it physically fill my whole body. Sweet surrender! I began to trust Him in that moment and it was a step out of the pit!
Step 3 to peace is Learn to Trust God! Watch for Step 4 in the next blog.