Anxiety and God’s Peace

I had three people fighting for my attention this morning.

My son was trying to show me some toy he just got. He figured out it could do something cool and he was excited about it.

My daughter was struggling to find a fork for her to eat her breakfast.

My poor husband was trying to tell me what he was reading about in God’s Word.

And then there was me–trying to listen to all the chaos going on in the kitchen and just wanting to make my own breakfast. (And my poor cup of coffee that already needed to be reheated after just two sips.)

Activate anxiety.

My body started to feel as if there was a threat, but really my attention was just being pulled in three different directions.

My chest started to feel tight.

My heart started racing.

I wanted to just snap and tell everyone to calm down! Let me make my breakfast in peace (like, was this really how I was starting my day?). 

But I knew that wouldn’t be fair to them.

My son was just excited and kids get excited.

My daughter had a need–a fork–and she was requesting help.

And then my husband, who already gets the leftovers of my attention most days, he knew I would be interested in what he was reading and that I would want to discuss it with him. 

“Lord, help me out, please?” 

Activate peace. 

You see, anxiety will try to tell me there’s a threat. That’s it’s job. It has a purpose, even if it’s wrong at the moment. It’s purpose is to help me respond to said threat. However, when you have an anxiety disorder, anxiety will activate when there is no real threat. 

But God’s Spirit? He’s ready and waiting within me. He will fill me with His peace. I may need to do some talking back to my anxiety and tell it to back off a little bit. I may need to do some breathing exercises or excuse myself for a minute so I can say a little prayer. 

But His peace is there, present, right alongside anxiety. Even if it’s just in that one moment, His peace will fill me up. 

And anxiety can wait for another day.