Remembering My Anxiety Story

In my last post, I tackled the topic of remembrance and why it is important, then I set out to spend 40 days remembering what God has done in my life instead of the typical thankful/grateful exercises. Interestingly, God brought me back to remember my season of anxiety and how He had worked within that story. As I read and reflected on what I had written about my anxiety story, I was amazed to see God’s fingerprints all over it. There was more there than I remembered on my own. Hindsight is said to be 20/20, and it offers a view of the big picture that we often can’t see while the story is unfolding.

Today, I want to put my story in one place. If you are struggling with anxiety, I hope you will find some encouragement in what God has brought me through. If nothing else, you will walk away knowing you are not alone and that God is unfolding your own story. That alone is something you can thank Him for in the midst of the unfolding.

So, here is my story, told through the lens of faith. It is my prayer that it blesses you.

Part 1-
Well, Hello Anxiety

Part 2-
If You are Struggling With Overwhelming Anxiety

Part 3-
Anxiety does not mean the quality of your faith is poor!

Like everyone’s story, mine has spiritual and physical components to it. One of the amazing things the Lord did during that time was to give me a heavenly perspective of trials and suffering. You will also find those posts at the bottom of each article of my anxiety story. What God taught me through the trials and suffering He brought me through became my lifeline. God graciously opened my eyes to how He uses trials in the life of a Christian and brought me to a place of willingness to endure.

Oswald Chambers wrote in one of his devotionals, “If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him.” I realized that is what happens when we draw closer to Him through trials and suffering. That is how we drink the bitter cup in communion with Him. The ability to drink the bitter cup in communion with God comes from understanding how God will use the trials for good and being open to how God will use them in your life to bring you closer to Him.

Understanding trials was one incredible lesson learned from the years of anxiety. I am very thankful He loved me enough to give me that gift and I am humbled to share that with you.

This November, I am remembering what God did through my anxiety and sharing the series on Trials and Suffering I wrote during that season: