Day 1: A is for Anxiety

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you …” John 14:27

A is for anxiety. It means a nervous, uneasy feeling often accompanied by worry. I personally have experienced and struggled with anxiety for a number of years. I do not believe that I have completely “arrived” yet, but, over time, I have found certain things that help and certain things that exacerbate the condition. I would like to share some with you today.

First of all, I would like to say that anxiety is a real thing. It is not something that you can just sweep under the rug and it magically disappears. That is as far from the truth as you can get. Anxiety is alive and thriving in our society and churches today. It is interesting to note here that depression and fear are very close relatives to anxiety.

I believe that anxiety has two main types of root causes. One is spiritual and the other is physical (which encompasses mental and emotional as well). This is not how anxiety is addressed in our society today though. Typically, it is addressed and treated as a mental issue. What is the problem with this though? It is never resolved! Why? Because the majority of the time, it is more than a mental issue; therefore, it has a much stronger physical root affecting it.

Imagine with me for a moment my friend who has seizures. When her body starts to go into a seizure, is she able to think positive thoughts or even mentally tell her body not to have the seizure and it obeys? No. That is ludicrous, is it not? Why? Because the body has a stronger power than the mind. I am not saying that the mind is not important in some cases (when it is a mind issue). What I am saying is that there are more than one type of roots and you must address the proper kind to get the results that you are looking for.

When it comes to the physical, mental, or emotional roots of anxiety, I believe that they have roots in not only dietary issues, but diseases of the body, allergies to food, mold and innumerable things, sugar imbalances, hormonal imbalances, etc. I know for me, I have a great fear of flying, bad storms, traveling in bad weather, etc. Is it because I mentally cause it? No, I believe, it is the things that are inside of me that are forcing my body into those modes. I have never done the mental “talk-through,” but I have done the “clean up my diet and get my body into a healthier state” and watched my anxiety disappear.

I cannot close this day without saying that anxiety can have spiritual roots as well. When there is sin in our lives, it can affect us mentally, which in turn triggers anxiety. I believe that anyone with anxiety needs to explore the possibility of BOTH the physical roots and the spiritual roots. It is very common for anxiety to be addressed from either one or the other, but rarely both; consequently, leaving it there to continue to fester and wreck havoc in your life. 

Lesson Objective: To understand what anxiety is. If you have anxiety, to determine if it is coming from physical roots,  spiritual roots, or both? Then, lastly, start working on digging up those ugly roots for good.

Did you pass or did you fail?