Anxiety Attacks And God

So as I continue this study on anxiety, having shared my experiences with anxiety here, I have to move on to something substantial in the realm of hope. The world’s answer and even some Christians’ responses seem to be the following: “Give me something so that I can cope.”  Their belief system is based on thinking that the best we can do is offer someone a better quality of life. Underneath our struggle with anxiety we may say, “I want to feel better.” Frankly, I did not want to go on living life with anxiety or panic lurking around the corner. I did want to know that life could be lived by responding and controlling my fears and anxieties even when I faced some “triggers” that would have (in the past) set off my whole body with tension and fear. And finally, I wanted to know all that God had for me in these struggles. A good friend used to ask me, “What is God up to?”

What are some of our best thoughts and practices in dealing with our anxieties?

• Remember that God made our bodies with certain physically “autonomic” systems [which means they happen on their own]. These God-designed systems include the reaction God put in place to help you in times of distress and danger. Medically, we understand that the brain sends out signals to the body. The body is simply responding to what we perceive to be a threat. Truthfully, this reaction can become a self-perpetuating circle of threat => brain response => physical anxiety and so on. The reason for this build-up of tension or anxiety in the body is that there is no actual, physical threat to fight or to run from but the person may perceive that there is a threat.  The adrenalin and other body systems put on high alert have no where to go, but inward. The result? The body goes into shock and forms a kind of shutdown mode.
• Remember that God, being sovereign, orchestrated your life so that it would include the event(s) that were catalysts for your anxiety. This fact is based on scriptures such as Job 3:24-26, where Job is admitting he is facing the very thing he dreaded most. So where is God in this event? He is right in the middle of orchestrating these things that befall Job.  I know by experience it is difficult to embrace the fact that God is designing our life when we are in our times of anxiety and panic. The feelings and anxieties are not what God planned, but the trust and faith that He is doing what is best for you in that event is His purpose. Job’s words in 23:10 (But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. ESV) are a brief glimpse of light in his darkness, his pain, living in the wake of fear. God wants us to be like Him. And we must face this test in order to become more like Christ. The other option? Be our own savior and messiah by controlling events and avoiding potential triggers.
• Remember that God has given us examples of others in the Bible who faced major fears and anxieties. It is human to fear, but it is ungodly to let fear and anxiety rule our lives, bodies, and activities. I may sound harsh or strong in that statement, but I am simply stating that God does not want us to live this way. Paul says that God did not “give us a spirit of fear, but of love and power.” So this fear of facing an event or some trouble or a person again is based on something apart from God. I had to keep bringing God into my moments of anxiety. He was there. He wanted to slowly deliver me from the clutches of anxiety so that I was trusting Him when a trigger kicked in. I found I did not have to respond with anxiety and with my whole body going into “def con-5” mode.
• Remember that God does not leave you to face your anxiety alone. This is a corollary to the above statement. Part of anxiety’s power over me is that I feel like I must come up with a solution alone. I feel so trapped by this fear, this anxiety, this paralyzing response to what is happening. It is in that moment that I need to remind myself of verses where God promises never to leave me. Not only that, but He promises to give me grace in that moment to face the anxiety. Paul’s struggle in 2 Cor. 12:9 is not identified for us. His struggle is some form of weakness. But Paul comes to the understanding that in his weakness, God’s power, through grace, is evident. This kind of grace is God’s unending supply for my daily struggles.
• Remember that God has given you His body, the church, to help walk with you through your fears and anxieties. One of the most helpful ways to deal with anxiety is to be honest and open with your church family, in particular those whom you disciple with. Now here is a possible problem. Is your church body a family that works, lives, and grows together? God designed it to be family. And family knows. They know our struggles. They care about what is going on. In fact, God puts the body together (I Cor. 12:12-26; Rom. 12:3-8) in a way that is symbiotic. It is designed to work and serve one part with another. Don’t struggle alone. And I can almost guarantee that you will find someone else who is working through fear as well.
• Remember that God’s plan involves being an “over-comer” as a child of God. And being an over-comer includes addictions and life-dominating fears or anxieties. I John 5 emphasizes that the child of God, the true child of God, is connected to the power of God and will overcome this world and its struggles. Yes, we each have our own form of failure and weakness, but we all have the same God. And I do not say over-comer quickly. It took me a long time to be at ease with fire, especially in our cement silo that we burned debris in every winter. But I knew that God could and would help me live by His grace and power in a way that included controlling a large fire in a previously fear-driven place without a panic attack.
• Remember that God has given you His Spirit within you to produce fruit. The spiritual fruit of God includes the work of peace and self-control (Gal. 5:22). So in my preparation for daily living, I asked God the Spirit to give me His control over my anxiety and my body in moments when my body wanted to take over. My body is not an independent agent working on its own (although it may feel like it initially). My body is to be under the direction and power of God, not self. God is not the “spirit” of fear, 2 Tim. 1:7 but instead that of love and power and self-control.