Philippians 4:6-8

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. 

Psalms 94:19 

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

1 Peter 5:7 

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Mattew 11:28-30 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

Psalms 55:22 

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.

Psalms 23:4

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalms 56:3-4, 11 

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise–in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? … in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?

Historians will probably call our era “the age of anxiety.” Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will for us. —Billy Graham

Let’s talk about depression and anxiety for a second. We paint ourselves out to be fine. We put on these masks and filters so everyone thinks we are fine. But we aren’t. Inside we feel nothing. We are tired constantly. We don’t get excited easily. It’s hard to stay interested in something. It’s hard to engage with people. It’s hard to focus without letting our mind wander onto unnecessary thoughts. We think that we aren’t good enough or aren’t happy enough. We think that there’s nobody out there who truly cares about how you feel, they say they do, but we think that it’s just to be polite. 

Sometimes even those who are the closest to us don’t act like they care. We are always second guessing ourselves and our actions. We overthink everything, and make it out to be a hundred times worse than it is. Wondering if we did it right or if someone noticed. Wondering if anyone hears us. Sometimes we wonder if people would even notice if you went away. Our minds race as fast as our heartbeats do if we think something is wrong or we did something wrong. Why do we have these feelings? Why doesn’t anyone notice us? We cry ourselves to sleep wondering, why does everything I do seem to never be enough? ENOUGH! 

You are enough. For God. He sees you, He hears you, He cares. Yeah I know it feels like there’s no point in talking to Him because it’s not like He’s going to force people to accept you and show you that they care. But He will lend a listening ear and shoulder to cry on. The Bible says He takes us under His wings like an eagle does her chicks (Deuteronomy 32:11). But here’s the best part. He accepts you for who you are and what you’ve done, no matter what it is. You might think it’s too trivial for God, but He cares enough to know the number of hairs on your head, what makes you think He doesn’t care about how you are feeling? God made you to be who you are. Stop trying to change who you are so that people like you. God made you just how he wants you to be, if people don’t like that then that’s their problem not yours. 

I know I am the pot calling the kettle black. Depression used to hit me hard sometimes. I was constantly anxious and trying to win people’s affection. I was always second guessing myself and asking for approval. I spent my day worrying about whether I did it right or if they noticed. My thoughts were focused on my own self pity and how I’m not good enough for people, obviously, because no one would notice if I disappeared. Other than when they want something from me or want me to do something for them. It’s often the people who should care about my well being the most who would send me spiraling into depression and anxiety. 

I just wanted to be told I am loved by that person because sometimes it sure feels like I’m not. Anyone who spends an entire day with me knows I always ask “did I do it right?”, “is this okay?”, “what should I do?” because I want to be accepted and noticed. I want to be told I am accepted or loved. I want to be enough for people. And when I wouldn’t get the acceptance and love I would just start the vicious negative thought cycle over again. The only time I could break free was by letting go and focusing on how God sees me. Three of my favorite songs at that time were “You Say” (Lauren Daigle), “Well Done” (The Afters), and “Living Hope” (Phil Wickham). Without even hearing the songs you can already tell what I struggle with just through the titles. 

Often when I feel at my lowest point the only way I can truly snap out of it, is by turning my attention away from myself and back to God. I listen to my worship playlist while I do dishes or when I’m in the car. I can never stay depressed while listening to worship music. Why? Is it because the music has a good beat, or a nice melody? No! God uses the music to speak to me through the words. His Spirit flows through the music to lift me up.

Anxiety is something that can grip us all. It can pull our thoughts away from what is important. It can make us say and do things that we did not intend to. Anxiety is a wave of overwhelming emotion, and when it comes there is no stopping it. We are frozen. We have no control over what is happening. So how can we handle this? Do we just let anxiety tear its way through our life? No, God tells us multiple times in the bible that He will take care of us. That we have nothing to worry about. That we need to reach out to Him when we feel anxiety start to take over. We can’t let it get to a crippling state. 

When you get anxious or depressed your first reaction should be to stop. Take a deep breath, like the one where you feel like you could pass out if you breathe any deeper (this helps bring life into perspective for me mot to mention it’s scientifically proven to increase your parasympathetic nervous system), let it go, and pray, even if it is as simple as “God I need you.” Sometimes that’s all I could get out. If you are in an appropriate place, start listening to worship music or read a couple Bible verses.

When you start to feel like your anxiety is taking over, take a second and reflect on why you are thinking these thoughts. It’s hard because a lot of times it isn’t just one little thing and we don’t know why our hearts are ripping out of our chest and we can’t breathe. But even so, try to pick one thing that may have triggered it. Once you have picked out that thing, ask yourself “Is this thought healthy, is it a pure thought?” Then you have to refocus your attention back to God. He is there for you. Take a second to say a little prayer asking for His peace. A peace that no man can understand, a peace that only God can provide. Tell Him what is happening, He is there to listen and support you through all of life’s trials.

Then you have to stop thinking about yourself. Count your blessings, be thankful for the people around you who you care about. Then the last step is to ask yourself if you are worried about something that is immediate or something that is in the past or future. If it is not something you should be worrying about right now, then save yourself the trouble and refocus your attention to something you can change right now. 

This life isn’t about you and how you feel. It’s about God and what He feels. He loves you more than words could ever express and it tears Him up to see us hurting. I know it sometimes feels like there really is no one you could possibly talk to, but there is, you have God, me, and a piece of paper who will always listen. Let it out! Don’t hold it in, even if it feels like there is no particular or single reason why you feel the way you do, just talking about how you feel lets it roll off the shoulders. 

If you are sitting there thinking that I don’t know what I’m talking about, I promise you I do. I have been in that dark place too. I have had the thoughts of “What if I just weren’t here anymore?” The difference is, I let God change me. I don’t struggle nearly as bad as I used to, and when I feel myself slipping, I know how to handle it. I am not saying that depression and anxiety are all about negative thoughts, there are chemical and medical explanations for them too, but I know someone who can fix the broken pieces. He is the Great Physician. God can fix the underlying problem, He can change your mood faster than anything else can. So just breathe and pray, it will get better.