If I’m being completely honest, writing you these posts is one my best ways of handling anxiety. That’s right, I suffer from anxiety. It’s not debilitating, nor does it stop me from living my life. However, it causes quite a bit of stress. It’s more so performance anxiety than a clinical level. It normally rears its ugly head when I have a high stakes moment coming up; exams, interviews, performances, etc. are all environments where my anxiety thrives.
This past week, I took my first medical school exam. Before the exam even started, I almost got stuck in the elevator. Talk about giving my anxiety a full course meal. I then had to go sit for two hours for two exams that I was not feeling comfortable with. Throughout the whole exam, I had to find different ways of handling anxiety just so I could make it through to the end with a clear enough mind just to finish.
After the exam, I saw my preliminary results and had a whole meltdown. I didn’t do nearly as well as I had wanted. My drive to be perfect, from the very beginning of medical school all the way to the end, exacerbated my reaction to my Very First Medical School Exam. It was dramatic to say the least. But that’s what anxiety does. It takes you out of your right state of mind before, during and after. So, what to do? What is the best way of handling anxiety so we can keep living our best lives and chasing our dreams?
Calling on God while handling anxiety
Some anxiety can stem from being worried about the future or the past. Uncertainty scares us and feeds into all of our insecurities and nightmares. But there is only one person who has any control over the future. Therefore, there is is only one person who you need to be talking to when you are feeling anxiety.
As soon as that tightness in your chest starts, or you start shaking uncontrollably, it’s time to throw up a quick prayer. This is something that you can do when you are in the middle of an exam, about to start a game, preapring for a huge meeting, whatever. So how do we know that God doesn’t want us to worry?
Let’s look at Jehosaphat, ruler of Judah. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, we see that two of the neighboring countries are sending their armies to conquer Judah. Jehoshaphat knows that he does not have the manpower to combat these two armies, so what does he do? He prays.
Trouble brings us closer to God
Handling anxiety is finding a good way to handle unexpected trouble. The first thing that we normally do is panic. The first thing that we need to do is pray. When you pray after experiencing trouble, then that trouble actually brought you closer to God. It’s easy to fall off habits of reading the Bible or praying. But if that’s your first reaction every time you experience adversity, then you’ll always have a tight relationship with God.
Not only did Jehoshaphat turn to the Lord, but all the people of Judah came together to pray together.
3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
(2 Corinthians 20: 3-4)
I’ve talked before about the importance of having friends in faith. This is another example of how several people facing the same trouble can come together and send their prayers up to the lord. Handling anxiety doesn’t have to be an individual journey. In fact, it shouldn’t be.
And do you know what God’s response was to their pleas?
15 …This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s…17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”
(2 Corinthians 20:15, 17)
Outcome of their faith
They followed God’s directions and had found the attacking armies had actually slaughtered each other. And guess what they left behind? Clothes, food, money and other resources that the people of Judah were able to benefit from. It took them three days to collect all of their new material that they didn’t have to even fight for. All they had to do was trust God and He came through. Not only did He help them that one moment, but news of His power spread to other nations, forever protecting Judah from future attacks.
Handling anxiety well leads to great results
Unexpected trouble is just a test. If you can withstand the test and keep your faith in God, then there will be great rewards on the other side of the hill. This is why there is no reason to be anxious. I freaked out over those exams and they both ended up being thrown out because no one did well on them. This was an opportunity for us, as the inaugural class, and the school, to see where everyone was, and where to go from there. Without any previous data or experiences, this gave us the baseline that we all needed to get a real idea of our strengths and weaknesses.
When you are facing your own test, and start to feel that familiar feeling of anxiety creeping up behind you, turn to God. He is the one that knows your future. There’s no need to worry because what He has for you is going to be so much greater than what you could imagine. Even if you go through a really tough period for a long time, your longevity in prayer will carry you through to the promised land.
No matter how difficult things are, you will always have God. When you feel like no one else understands or you don’t know where to turn to, turn to Him. Don’t shame yourself for feeling worried or anxious. It’s normal. But what will get you into trouble, is letting those feelings of anxiety overtake your steps forward. Get into the habit of praying as soon as things get hard, and you’ll amaze yourself with how less anxious you feel about different situations.
Before we know it, we’ll all be super nonchalant about our L’s because we know so many W’s are on the way. Handling anxiety is not impossible, but it does take practice. Let me know if you have learned how to better handle anxiety or just want to leave any other general comments below!
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2 Corinthians 20:1-30
20 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites[a] came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.
2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom,[b] from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said:
“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
10 “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.
14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.
15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”
18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his[c] holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the Lord,
for his love endures forever.”
22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
24 When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. 25 So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing[d] and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah[e] to this day.
27 Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. 28 They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lyres and trumpets.
29 The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.
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