A way out of anxiety
Anxiety used to hit me like a wave. One moment I was OK, the next I felt like I was drowning. Sometimes the thoughts were specific; sometimes it was just a crushing weight of anxious feelings. All of it was awful.
Recent coverage of mental health issues has shown that anxiety impacts almost 4% of people worldwide, affecting health, happiness, and productivity. But as I experienced when I faced this issue, there’s hope; we can do more than just manage this problem. Genuine, lasting healing is possible because of who we are.
Anxiety would try to tell us that we’re at the mercy of our thoughts and feelings. That they can barge in and batter us, and that we’re helpless to do anything about it. That’s the way I used to feel. But one day, during an anxious episode, a thought broke through that I knew was from God.
This wasn’t a total surprise – I’d prayed about anxiety a lot. Prayer had been my go-to because Christian Science had helped me so much with other mental health issues. And it seemed natural that feeling more of the presence and power of God – who is infinite, unstoppable good – would bring more peace and less anxiety. Just as pure happiness leaves no room for sadness, being conscious of the divine qualities of goodness, peace, and stability rules out anxious, unsettled, fearful thoughts.
I’d had moments of relief through praying this way. But the anxiety continued until I heard this thought from God: “How would you pray about this if you were praying for a friend?”
Ideas from God help us get to the core of whatever we’re dealing with rather than leaving us to chip away at it on a surface level. And this thought woke me up to my approach to praying about anxiety. I’d been tentative, giving anxiety the power rather than God, even though the Bible conveys that God is omnipotent – literally all power.
I recognized all of this as I thought about this question of how I’d pray for a friend who was struggling with anxiety. And I felt a strength well up in me that I’d never felt before. I was absolutely convinced that anxiety could not control this hypothetical friend and was no part of their thoughts or life. Rather than a bully to be pushed around by, it was simply not part of their true nature as God’s child – entirely spiritual because we’re made in the likeness of God, Spirit.
“So?” came the follow-up thought from God. “Why not do that for yourself?”
I knew that what God was nudging me to do didn’t involve willing anxiety away. The authority behind such prayers stems from our – everyone’s – real identity as God’s expression. When we express ourselves, that expression reflects who we are – be it funny, creative, intelligent, serious, or all of these. Similarly, God’s expression must be like God. And since God isn’t anxious, we can’t be either. God’s qualities include peace, strength, balance, harmony, constancy. Those are the kinds of qualities that make up our identity.
This was my basis for praying for myself – affirming what I really am. Being God’s expression, the expression of good, means we can say no to anything that isn’t good. And we can say no with authority. I felt so much strength as I thought of how Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, characterized this rebellion against every ungodlike thought: “Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love” (“Pulpit and Press,” p. 3).
This might sound dramatic, but the moment I rose up against the anxiety on the basis of my God-given identity, it was like a great “Boom!” happened in my thoughts. That feeling of being overwhelmed by nerves and fear broke apart and dissolved. The deepest peace I’d ever felt settled over me. I knew I was free – and I was. That was the end of those anxious episodes.
We all have a spiritual identity – our true identity. Sourced in God, it’s not vulnerable to mental health issues or destined to endlessly struggle. It includes peace and freedom – and the strength to claim those qualities as our own.
