Anxiety and Fear

When you have been hurt or betrayed, it makes it difficult for you to trust with your whole heart. Maybe you were hurt by your Father, or Mother. Maybe they abandoned you or lied to you, maybe they broke your spirit and abused you. Maybe you have been hurt by a sibling or some other family member, maybe it was your spouse or a close friend. Maybe it was your Pastor or other Christians in the church. We are all broken people. I know that in my own life, I have been hurt deeply. I have days when it is so difficult to function because my mind will not forget the past hurts. Anxiety is brought on and thoughts of distrust slip into my mind and take control. Then fear (anxieties partner in crime) steps into my heart and paralyzes me. I start questioning so many things. I become overwhelmed with fear, hurt and doubt. It spreads so quickly. I begin to doubt myself as a wife, mother and Christian. I don't my self worth and all that I am capable of. Typically that's what fear and worry does. But the worse thing is it causes us to doubt God.
This past Sunday in church my Pastor preached a message on Anxiety. We are doing the Sermon on the Mount and the passage was Matthew 6: 25-34
One thing that my Pastor said was this "Anxiety is not a psychological problem, it is a theological problem. It is a problem that we have in trusting God." He does say that he isn't speaking of those that truly have depression or chemical in balance, but those of us that simply worry. He said most of the time we worry over an imagined reality, things that haven't even happened yet or may never happen.  God says we are not to waste our life away worrying about such things.
I know that it isn't easy to tell yourself to just shut up and I'm not saying to ignore your internal instincts, But folks~ if you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit with you. We can trust God. We can turn to Him. He knows all things and He cares for us more than any creature on this earth. He is the answer. We just have to choose to continually give it to Him and say "Father, regardless of how I feel on the inside, I choose to trust in you. I choose to give this to you. You will care for me and my family the way you see fit. You have never betrayed me, never forsaken me. I trust in you" You may need to pray several times a day since our thoughts are not simply quieted by our own doing.
There is a song we sing in church called Full Attention by Jeremy Riddle, and every time I hear the words and I sing them, it becomes a prayer from my soul to Gods. I want His voice to louder and clearer than any other. I want my eyes fixed on Him and my heart rooted so deep in Him. "Keep me abiding so that I may bear fruit"  Anxiety, worry, stress.... it does the opposite. It paralyzes you it keeps you from moving forward, from bearing fruit.

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” 

― Corrie ten Boom

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems” 

― Epictetus