Intentional Heart

 


Heart.

At times I find myself gripped by overwhelming anxiety. It consumes my thoughts, making it hard to concentrate. Sometimes I can tie the anxiety to an event, a trigger. But sometimes, it's hard to pin down.

 When anxiety creeps in and takes over, the simple tasks of the day to day can suddenly seem difficult. Cooking dinner, helping with homework, running errands. When we find ourselves in these moments, it can be hard to see past it. Our perspective shifts and our anxiety becomes the wind in the sails, directing our thoughts and actions.

This is when we need to remind ourselves of truth, allow God's promises to fill  our sails, driving back the lies that anxiety can bring.

 

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 

 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. 

Psalm 37:3-5

 

Look to His Word for the reminder that when we delight in what He delights in, His goodness becomes our focus. His delight becomes our delight. When we seek to trust Him to do good, we can take the step in doing the next good thing in our own life. We can commit our plan to Him, trusting Him to bring the best from it, even if it looks different than what we first imagined. 

 Today, be intentional with looking at your own heart. In what ways are you allowing anxiety to control your actions, thoughts, and feelings? Bring them to God. Ask Him to bring them into perspective in light of His goodness. Ask Him to transform your heart into one that delights in what He delights, and that it can rest in the faithfulness of a loving Father.







Anchoring ourselves in Truth is always the best place to start. On days, when anxiety can be crippling, I have found these 4 things to be helpful.

Steps to move through anxiety:

  1. Find scripture to cling to. A promise that you can keep coming back to when everything else feels so uncertain.
  2. Tell someone. a problem shared is a problem halved. The enemy likes to work in the dark, and when we keep the struggle to ourselves, we give him a foothold.
  3. Accomplish one thing on your to-do list. It might just be finishing a load of laundry. Cleaning off a counter. Or taking a 15 minute walk. The feeling of accomplishment can help when you feel out of control.
  4. Breathe. Close your eyes and focus on breathing in and out. In for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, out for 4 seconds. Do a total of 10. Centering our minds on something concrete, and again, something we can control, helps bring our minds into better focus and perspective when it comes to our anxiety.

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Comments

  1. SondraFebruary 25, 2021 at 10:21 AM

    Thank you for this thoughtful post with such good strategies. I love the reminder of God's truth as the ultimate anchor -- so true! I've struggled with anxiety, too. I've found breath prayers grounded in Scripture really helpful as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NicholeMarch 2, 2021 at 4:05 PM

      I'm so glad you found it helpful, Sondra!

      Delete

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