"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Anxiety has been something I have been struggling with for awhile. When asking for encouragement, on how to not deal with anxiety but overcome it, I got a personal story from my brother, that strayed not too far from mine, and advice on how to stabilize myself.

Read his response below:

"How I deal with anxiety has much to do with my mentality.

When I say I struggle with anxiety, I am not just referring to worrying alone. I am speaking of the physical sufferings that come with anxiety. There was a period in time where I went nights without out sleep and felt like I was at my end. I thought I could collapse at any moment. I felt as though I was out of breath.

The problem was the fact that I thought something was physically wrong with me.

I thought the root was that something was going wrong in my body and therefore why I was having these reactions. However we must understand that our whole being is connected. Therefore whatever goes on in the mind effects the body. Whatever goes on in the deep sea of our emotions affects our health. We know this because when we fear something, some people have an uneasy feeling in their chest. Some people begin to sweat when they fear something or even begin to feel uneasy in their stomach. When our conscious bothers us we feel a weight that comes over our body. Some people describe certain feelings of stress bringing forth a feeling of a lump in their throat. My point is this: Once I went to the emergency room to find out what was going on with me physically and they could not find anything wrong, I had to come to grips with the fact that subconsciously I was dealing with emotions that were affecting my overall being. At this point in time I recalled the saying "the mind is a powerful thing". The mind is powerful and God has created it in a way that if we do not have self control over it that effects everything in us and around us.

So how I deal with anxiety is first recognizing that what is going on with me physically is a result of what is going on mentally. Now I must bring my mind into submission, which means I must believe the truth rather than the lie that is controlling my life. Something as simple as believing that I was out of breath, and changing my thoughts about what was really happening brought me to immediate peace inwardly and outwardly. What was really happening was I was too focused on my breathing that I began to try to take control of something that happens naturally without my own effort. When I begin to try to take control it actually made things worse. I believe this is exactly what Jesus wants to convey to us when he ask the question "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"(Matthew 6:27). The answer is obvious. I believe the real issue with anxiety is rooted in our genuine effort to preserve life through control, yet we are seeking to control the wrong things, rather than what God wants us to control which is our minds."

(Trevaris J. Tutt)

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. (Psalm 55:22)