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Hey sister friends!
Oh my goodness, there’s been a lot going on over here. We’ve been moving and finishing the house and unpacking and moving some more stuff and unpacking some more and it’s just been crazy. The days have been wild and somehow long and short all at the same time. But I’m so excited about today’s episode because it is going to be so real life and I truly am just sharing from my heart as I have been recently walking through a season of fairly severe anxiety.
Anxiety is something that I have struggled with off and on over the years. I’ve had some mild anxiety and I’ve had at least three seasons of severe anxiety. And believe it or not, as we’ve been finishing up this house build and I’ve had some other things going on in my life, I’ve been walking through a season of severe anxiety. And we’re going to unpack that all here.
As I’ve been walking through this season of anxiety, I’ve had some health issues. The short version is that for over a year, I have been having some episodes of blurry vision off and on. About three months ago on a Saturday morning, I had an episode where my vision went really blurry and it was accompanied this time by unexplainable dizziness. Now, I do have to say that the stress of our house, doubled with moving and unpacking was at an all-time high. I also want to point out that stress and overwhelm sometimes can be a combination of things that we actually really wanted. So I don’t want to make it sound like it was bad stress necessarily because it wasn’t. It truly was what I called blessed stress. But as we were finishing up the house build and all the things that were going on, it was just a lot. In that very busy season, this blurry vision and unexplainable dizziness just began to come and go and come and go, and my mind sort of went spiraling. I’m just gonna go ahead and share this with you here because I know several women who have been in the same boat, where they wrestle with this anxiety as a mom and having small children… that if any little thing becomes wrong with their health, that they’re going to die. And I used to morbidly play this out in my mind and like I said, I know many other women who have done the same thing. One little thing goes wrong with your health and you begin to play out the scenario in your mind where you die and leave your kids behind. And it’s like this spiral thing that happens and it just causes anxiety and fear and it’s just not good. Fear is not from God, but as sinful human beings, this can happen to us and our minds can go spiraling down this deep dark hole and that had happened in my life. Now, I know where I’m going, I’m not afraid to die. But the thought of potentially leaving my kids behind before they’re full grown just wrecks me, like it makes me sick to my stomach. It’s something that I hate thinking about and it’s just where my mind goes when any little thing goes wrong. And so I began thinking okay, why am I having this dizziness and this blurry vision? And so I went to a local eye doctor who took a bunch of pictures of my eyes and long story short, she said to me, “Maybe you have a brain tumor, maybe that’s what’s causing this”. And then she walked out of the room.
It’s so terrible. And I just sat there stunned and just thrown into a deep dark hole of anxiety. I believe so firmly in Proverbs 18:21 that both life and death are in the power of the tongue and she had spoken this nonsense over me. And my mind just went racing with what she had said, like, do I have a brain tumor? Am I going to die? It gave me an opportunity to really dig down deep inside and say okay, am I gonna practice what I preach? Am I going to renew my mind with truth and speak truth and life over myself? What are my next steps forward here? God often speaks through me to speak to me and He was like, okay, what are you going to do with this? So I went on this journey of seeking wisdom from a lot of trusted sources. I went and got a second opinion from another eye doctor. I went to the local chiropractor. I went to some local health practitioners seeking their wisdom and just asking them what the next steps forward would be. I eventually went to a holistic homeopathic neurological chiropractor who was amazing and we’re going to talk about that experience here in just a minute. And finally, finally, I actually went and got an MRI. I did, which came back completely and totally clear…Praise God that the nonsense spoken over me was absolutely not true. But in this journey, as you can imagine, which as you know, unfolded over the last several weeks and months, there was a lot of anxiety that I was wrestling with. God has spoken so many things to my heart and showed me many things that I’ve been taking note of in order to share them all with you here today. Because anxiety is just so prevalent in our culture. We are living in a busy, wild and crazy, loaded with fear, fast-paced world and it’s just a struggle here on this planet. So, as I’m reflecting on all of this and speaking about it right now, I really feel like it’s so very possible that the Lord has been allowing me to walk through all of this these last few months for the sheer purpose of learning what I’ve learned in order to share it with you right here today.
So, let’s get to unpacking the three ways for overcoming anxiety so that you can take back your mind. God was so gracious to give you a mind and a brain…which are two different things. And He also gave you a spirit of power, love, and self-control. So let’s get to using your brain and learning about these awesome things and I’ll walk you through some more pieces and parts of my research so that you can learn how to completely take back your mind.
Take a Sabbatical
The first of the three ways that I want to bring to you today that you can use to overcome anxiety and take back your mind is to actually take a sabbatical. Now, what this really means in simple terms is take a break, take a rest, take a period of time to step away from whatever it is that’s causing anxiety or honestly, just even life in general…sort of like taking a Sabbath. Sabbath should be very focused on worshiping the Lord while a sabbatical, I feel, is mostly focused on rest and taking a break. And so I was telling you that I went and saw this incredible neuropathic neurological chiropractor. His name was Dr. Chris Beckwith, and he’s based out of Bettendorf, Iowa. And this was so hard as a mom and as a wife as we were in the absolute midst of the house build and the very beginning stages of moving into this new house, but for the first time in my life, I packed up and I went and checked into a hotel for a four day intensive with Dr. Chris. And what this was, was me meeting with him three times a day for four days in a row. So it truly was like an intensive experience. And he did everything from very gentle chiropractic methods to a lot of like resetting my brain. It’s so hard to describe but he would do exercises with my eyes, exercises with my mind, my brain, like it almost also ended up becoming therapy sessions in a sense because he, like me, is very growth-minded. He loves to read books, loves to learn things, loves to learn about neuroscience and the power of the mind. He’s a believer and so we were able to talk about so many things from my past and my present to my future and it was just like this full holistic experience of truly just mind, heart, body, soul…all of it. This sabbatical, this time away, it changed me. It gave me the time and the space to take a break and to deal with some stuff from my physical to my mental to my emotional and it gave me time and space to heal.
So just to recap some of I guess what I would call breakthrough that I had within this time…. I did have a lot of physical healing. He improved my dizziness, he improved some things that were going on with my vision and my eyes. The emotional and mental healing, however, was honestly probably the biggest piece of the puzzle and where I received the most healing in that time that I spent there at his clinic. I had some powerful realizations. I have struggled and maybe still struggle with perfectionism sometimes. And honestly, when I’m trying to be the perfect mom, what it really comes down to is me wrestling with my pride. I was telling Dr. Chris that one of the things that really has triggered me and brought more anxiety on for me is when my kids argue with each other. Now recently, I figured out that the arguing in itself actually is a trigger for me because it takes me back to a place in my childhood where there were loved ones arguing and it led to something really bad and difficult…it led to my parent’s divorce. So in my mind when people argue, it leads to bad things. That was a belief that I was holding on to and so when my kids would argue, it would trigger me. It would take me back to that place and I just couldn’t understand. My kids are growing up in a loving home, their parents are married, they have all of their needs met. Why are they arguing? I laid out this expectation that we don’t do that. We don’t treat each other like that. We honor each other here. And we treat each other how we want to be treated here, yet, they are arguing and so that must somehow mean that I’m failing as a mom. Right? And what this all boiled down to was me being prideful and setting these unrealistic expectations for my kids. Sure, kids do need expectations that they can rise to but when they’re framed in a way such as this, that it’s all coming back on me and my pride, and me feeling like a failure of a mom because my kids are just being normal kids…there’s work to do around that. So, I learned in my time there with Dr. Chris that I’ve got to work on being more peaceful, more patient, having more grace, and teaching my kids with loving kindness and wisdom how to become slow to anger and giving them grace when they do make mistakes and ultimately, loving them unconditionally. And loving myself unconditionally when I fall short, right? Because we do fall short. The Bible says we all fall short, but God in His goodness, our good Father shows us unconditional love. And so when my kids are falling short, when I’m falling short, ultimately, it’s a chance to practice that unconditional love. That’s pretty deep, right? This is just some of the awesome stuff that I uncovered in my time with Dr. Chris on this sabbatical.
So, take a sabbatical or a break or rest or a short time away, if possible. And I understand it’s not always possible to pack up your things and take time, literally away from the family. But there are ways to work this out. You can go take a walk out in nature, you can sit in your car for 15 minutes if that’s what you need to do. Call your sister, your mom, your friend, ask them to take the kids one night so that you can take just a short period of rest and so that you can work through things and give you that clarity and peace and rest and time where you can really sit down and process and take a breather. It will truly help you to overcome anxiety just like it did for me.
The 3 Step Process
Strategy number two for overcoming anxiety and taking back your mind is a 3 step process that I actually teach inside of my Faith Fueled Breakthrough course.We’re going to cover it here very quickly but if you’re interested in going deeper, learning more about it, and really walking through it, you can check it out at Faithfueledbreakthrough.com
So the 3 step process goes like this:
Step 1: Take your thoughts captive.
Step 2: Renew your mind with truth from God’s Word.
Step 3: Meditate on that truth and repeat it until you believe it with every fiber of your being.
Now, none of this should really be unfamiliar to you because this is all biblical-based. And it’s all things that you’ve heard before in Scripture, but it’s when you put these three things together in this process, in this order, that it is really effective and really powerful. So before we dive into these steps, I want you to think of anxiety and anxious thoughts like this:
Imagine if you have something really precious. In fact, I want you to imagine that you inherited your great grandma’s rose garden, like it’s been in the family for 50 years. It’s precious. You have this precious thing but you begin to notice a problem. There are intrusive weeds and animals and pests that have come to destroy this precious thing that you have, this rose garden that you inherited. You’re not going to let them destroy it. You’re going to do whatever it takes to take those destructive things captive. And you’re going to replace them with things that will help your rose garden flourish. Things like earthworms, butterflies, pollinators, things that will help the precious garden grow. Your anxiety and your anxious thoughts are like the pests coming to destroy your garden, they have no place there. So you’re going to take them captive, replace them with good things, and then continue to care for your garden. Can this be a hard thing to do? Yes, but guess what? You’re capable of doing hard things. 2 Timothy 1:7 says you have a spirit of power, love, and self-control. And Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.
Okay, back to the 3 step process.
Step One
Take your thoughts captive. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says “Take every thought captive to obey Christ”. So, how exactly are you supposed to do that? You probably hear me and other Christians talking about it but you’re like, how the heck am I supposed to literally take my thoughts captive? Well, first, it’s going to require that you take the time to actually sit down with your thoughts. That means you’re willing and able to sit down with no other distractions, nothing else going on around you, nothing else on your plate, and you’re going to think about and wrestle with your thoughts. It takes some work to take your thoughts captive. Let me just acknowledge that and speak truth about that. But it’s worth doing. So, you sit down with your thoughts, you become aware of them, you wrestle with them, you identify them, you identify the thoughts that are causing your anxiety. You identify what those are, and you take hold of them in your mind.
Step Two
Renew your mind with truth. Romans 12:2 says, “You are to be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. So, turn to God’s word to see what He says about the thoughts you’re thinking, the things you’re believing, the emotions you’re feeling, and then you take what He says about those things and plant seeds in your mind. If you feel like you don’t even know where to start with this, take a look at the index in the back of your Bible or even do a quick Google search. Just Google, what does the Bible say about whatever you’re anxious about whether it’s friendship, marriage, health, healing, whatever it is. Look to see what God says about it. And then the truths that you find in the Bible, write them down. It’s super important that you write these findings down so that you can move on to step number three.
Step Three
Meditate on and repeat the truths until you believe them. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things”. So you take God’s truth and you repeat it, and you think on it, and you post it up around your house. And you speak them and you read them out loud until you believe them. By the way, I know that this can be hard, I know it can take a lot of repetition and practice. As I’ve been walking through this valley season, I’ve been like, I know what God says about this, but do I believe what God says about this? And as I began to meditate on and repeat more and more scripture throughout the journey, it really did get easier. My life verse, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast your anxiety on God because He cares for you”. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. And in Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come to me, and I will give you rest”. Those are just some of the truths that I was meditating on and repeating as I rode out this latest wave of anxiety and as I walked through this 3 step process, which again, is so very effective, and so very powerful.
Worship Your Way Out of It
Okay friends, the third and final way that I want to share with you that can help you overcome anxiety and take back your mind is to do this: Worship your way out of it. So really what this is is turning on worship music and soaking up and meditating on the truth and the wisdom inside of the worship music. It’s turning your heart and your mind and your focus to God and worshiping Him. Because when we’re focused solely on worship, there’s very little room left for worry. Don’t give it the space. Don’t give it the real estate in your brain. And sweet friend, there’s so much goodness in Christian music. In fact, my husband and I were actually on a date night at a Casting Crowns concert and we’ve been fans of their message and their music for a long time. I’ve heard their songs a zillion times and some of the lyrics from one of their songs just struck me in a whole new way because I had been walking through this season of anxiety. There’s this piece in the lyrics and it says, “There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know”. Sister friends, our God is bigger than your anxiety. God is bigger than your fear. God, our Creator, the good Father, the one who created you and loves you the most, He’s bigger than any problem or anything you are facing. And if you truly will lay it at the foot of the cross and give it to Him, He will take it and He will handle it. He is big enough to shoulder whatever it is that you are walking through right now. Turn your heart, turn your mind, turn your thoughts to worship to leave little to no room for worry.
Also, reading through the book of Psalms is an awesome way to worship. A lot of the passages in the book of Psalms are King David singing praises to God and worshiping Him in all the different situations that he was in. There is some crazy stuff in the Bible. There really, truly is. But David walked through some really hard things and he’s writing these psalms and songs and praises, like he’s praising God in the storm, in every moment, through the good, the bad, the ugly, the hard. I mean, it’s just incredible.
Another thing you can do to worship is meditation. Now, I want to put a disclaimer in here. There’s a lot of secular meditation out there. There really is and I’ve used some of the secular meditation even myself, I don’t think is all necessarily bad. But I do think that a biblical-based meditation is better and allows you to focus your thoughts easier on worship and on the Lord when it is intentionally, biblically-based. So, if you can find meditations that include music, wisdom, worship, those are fantastic. And in fact, there is an episode right here on this podcast, episode #54 called, A Guided Meditation for Beloved Kingdom Daughters, and it actually walks you through that in a very gentle way. It really focuses in on who you are in Christ and His great love for you. And I’m super excited to announce to you that next week right here on the podcast, I’m actually bringing you a brand new meditation called Wisdom and Worship. I’m doing it to piggyback off of this episode so you can go back and forth between these two episodes!
I’ve shared some things here today that honestly even some of my family members didn’t even know about. So you really got a peek into my heart today and I am absolutely honored to get to share my heart and biblical truth and wisdom with you. I’m very grateful for each and every one of you! So many sister friends have been or are struggling with anxiety, it’s mind blowing. So let’s come together. Let’s shine the light and show the love and spread biblical truth and wisdom by sharing this message all across social media and touch hearts all for the glory of God.
