The Gospel in the Middle of a Panic Attack
Do you wrestle with anxiety? Do you feel the weight of it on your chest?
The feeling like you can’t catch air, like your heart has lost its rhythm and is zooming to the pace of an unstoppable force?
You are not alone.
There is nothing wrong with you for feeling that way.
I’ve heard again and again… “Philippians says, ‘Do not be anxious about anything,’” leaving me wondering, what am I missing? It didn’t seem that easy for me. Just don’t be anxious?
This passage is not asking us to just wish our anxiety away or overcome it by pulling up our bootstraps.
This passage is an invitation to enter into the presence of God.
To be overcome by Him and Him alone.
To be washed in His mercy and His grace, and then to WAIT upon the Lord.
But what does that look like? How can I do that?
I want to open up the door of my heart and mind to you… Let you see what my raw conversations with God look like when I’m experiencing anxiety.
Come and sit for awhile. Grab a cup of tea and breathe into this prayer with me.
And anytime you see italics in the prayer below, it’s the truths of God entering into this space with me.
Swirling, swirling, swirling. Thoughts dance around in my head like they own the place. Failures from yesterday. Frustration. Inadequacy in my teaching. Flashbacks of the ambulance… “CLEAR!” chk, chk. Flash forwards to my overly packed day today and to my weekend of overload. Overbooked, overfilled. Too much.
Come to me.
Rest your racing mind.
Steady your racing heartbeat.
I will listen.
I will carry the load.
My yoke will take the brunt of the weight,
You sit back and
Just enjoy my
Presence.
I walked in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
I will not leave your side.
I have sent my Spirit, so that you do not walk through the fire alone.
When anyone comes into my presence, fear leaves.
Moses had to hide behind the cleft of a rock as I passed by
So that my glory would not shatter his body to pieces.
You think I can’t handle the thoughts in your mind?
You think they can’t flee in my presence?
You have forgotten the God you stand before this morning.
I am the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning, and the End.
And I gave my life for you.
I love you ferociously.
The thoughts in your mind don’t belong.
The failures?
Stop dwelling.
You have been rescued from darkness.
You have been crowned.
You have been given a new name.
You have my Spirit through the blood of my Son.
What’s mine is yours.
So why do you dwell on things of the past?
Take hold of the victory I’ve given you and walk forward.
Run the race with my mercies that are new
Every. Single. Morning.
Don’t waste another moment of your time sinking.
Awake O sleeper, and rise.
There is more to life than swirling thoughts of things you cannot change.
Why not dance in the joy of me as you walk through it all?
Let’s go!
Praise my name through the day.
Fix your eyes on me.
I promise fear will flee in my presence.
Scriptures of reading and songs to listen to:
→ Daniel 3:8-30 (ESV)
→ “Another in the Fire” by Hillsong United
→ Exodus 33:12-23 (ESV)
→ Matthew 11: 25-30 (ESV)
→ “In the Fire” by Josiah Queen
Whoa you fill me up.
The physical anxiety remains.
Yet I ignore it because my thoughts dwell on you.
Soon, the physical response will catch up to my brain.
Until then, I continue to rest in you.
You are the one who straightens my path.
You are the one who takes care of me.
It is you I put my trust in.
You are the one who calms my storms.
So I look past the response of anxiety.
Even as the physical feeling remains.
Leaving it behind, I move forward with you!
Related Reading:
- Managing Anxiety as a Christian
- Should Christians Go To Therapy?
- Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts by Jennie Allen
- Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by Craig Groeschel
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