Anxious For Nothing with Thanksgiving

By Diane Nix

 Ministry wives (like most women I know) are in constant motion. We are constantly serving and taking care of somebody all the time. It is what we do. It can become who we are. Stress and anxiety can become our friends as we keep spinning plates in our daily lives. 

Stress creates worry. Worry usually moves to anxiety, and a myriad of different emotions can even end with physical manifestations such as panic attacks. One ministry wife shared the story of a very intense, stressful time in their church. Her husband began to have what he thought were heart attack symptoms. He is a man’s man and not given to deeply emotional reactions. He had been stuffing His emotions – “I can handle this! God’s got this and me.” But alas, the stress of the church situation brought him to a place of experiencing panic attacks which he thought were heart-related issues. The ministry wife shared that as they processed through the season, she took on some of the anxiety he had been carrying. Soon both of them needed rescuing. 

The following are just a few stressors that cause anxiety in the hearts of ministry wives. It’s not an exhaustive list.  

Anxiety ranges from

• Conflict in the Church
• Loss of anything
• No safe place to process
• Unprocessed trauma (childhood)
• Loneliness
• Working outside the home
• Pressures from extended family
• Carrying the emotional weight of others
• Concerns for children
• Financial Issues
• Marital Issues
• Lack of intimacy with the Lord
• Lack of accountability
• Social and Environmental Disasters
• Medical issues (Personal and Others)
• Fear of ______________ (You fill in the blank)

Did you know that anxiety and gratitude cannot co-exist in our brains? Anxiety is the emotion created to make us alert to impending dangers – it’s that fight or flight response trigger. If we spend our lives expressing gratitude, we will live with less anxiety. Why is this? One researcher put it like this: “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve our health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.” The scientific thought is that gratitude releases something powerful in our brains. Kristin Francis, MD, a psychiatrist, says, “It boosts dopamine and serotonin, the neurotransmitters in the brain that improve your mood immediately, giving you those positive feelings of pleasure, happiness, and well-being.” 

Our brains live on repeat – so think with me – if we repeat something long enough, this thought/fear/anxiety response becomes our reality. If we live with the anxiety on repeat, then you and I will miss the “little” things God has done for us.  We will live what we think.

All of this challenges me. I’m not just talking positive thinking here. It’s hard sometimes to be grateful. It’s hard when life seems to throw you one curve ball after another, and no matter how you try to change things in the physical realm, it just keeps coming. Unlike someone who doesn’t know our Father, you and I have the One who knows and desires us to turn to HIM in gratitude. He blesses us as a good and perfect Father. So our focus is gratitude, not for gratitude’s sake, but gratitude to the One who has given us breath and knows us better than we know ourselves. You can trust Him to heal you from anxiety. He wants you to trust Him.

I know the hardship of this life. I have lived much of it with pain and unresolved broken relationships. Relationships broken by sin. Events that don’t make sense in light of His goodness and mercy. I know the deep heartache of loss that can’t be replaced, changed, or fixed. I know what it’s like to look into the mirror and ask, “Why?” Choosing in the next moment to ask, “What?” What do you want me to make of this situation, Lord? What do you want me to know of You in this? How do I show your love in this? How do You get glory from this? How long will this be?

This next week, as we enter the week of Thanksgiving, would you take a challenge with me? The anxiety triggers mentioned above do not need to become yours to bear alone. I wonder, is God’s Word sufficient for everything in our lives? I believe it is. His Word tells us so. 

He is with us. Let’s fill our minds with gratitude. Let’s do some retraining of our brains. Let’s rewrite some old messages of pain, anxiety, victimization, worry, shame, and fear. Begin to allow the gratitude of our hearts to rewrite the old messages and lies. Let the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, have His way in our brains!

“John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.

And then in verse fourteen of the same chapter.

“14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

He has come. So let’s do some scripture work. Let’s exercise what we know from the Word of God. Let’s replace the anxiety thoughts and replace them with God’s truth. He sees. He knows. There’s a free download for you with some of my favorites.

Love you, sisters!

Happy Thanksgiving!