Episode #350 Releasing Anxiety to God – How to Bring Your Feelings to God

Friend, do you feel anxious today? That tightness in your chest or maybe that tingling in your fingers, where your thoughts keep jumping around to worst case possibilities or just worries? If you feel anxious today, I'm glad that you're here because God meets us in that, too.

We're in a series looking at how we can bring all of our emotions to God, how we're doing and what we're feeling. It's not a reason to stay away. They can actually be motivators to draw near. And when I am feeling anxious, I feel like God is far away. My circumstances or the possibility of really bad circumstances just looms so large and I can feel disconnected from him. And when I try and ground myself, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to receive the grounding that God offers me, and that can be for a variety of reasons. For me, it tends to be because I feel like I know that I shouldn't be anxious, and so I feel bad that I am. But God doesn't shame us for how we're feeling. He invites us to inspect it sometimes. He invites us to release those feelings to him, and he always invites us to meet with him in the middle of it.

I have two passages of scripture for us today. And what I encourage you to listen for as I read them is how God responds with opportunities, with invitations for connection, even in times of anxiety. The first one is in Luke 10. It's the story of Mary and Martha, and I'll read verses 38 through 42. It says:

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I read a commentary one time that talked about how in ancient Hebrew culture, the use of two names back to back was a form of endearment. It was communicating relationship and care.

“Martha, Martha.”

Jesus is communicating care to Martha and he's saying, “Hey, you are anxious, but I invite you to be with me here.” Mary, your sister, has chosen what is better.” He doesn't say, don't care about all of the things that come along with hosting. He says, don't miss the opportunity for connection. Even as we're in your home, you can miss that if you choose to.

I also wanna read for Psalm 94 verses 16 through 19. And again, listen for the opportunity for connection even in anxiety.

16 "Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

17 Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.

19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy."

See, I can assume that God wants me to stop being anxious so I can be with him. That he would hold me at arms length or just bring correction and say, you better get your act together so we can be together. But we see in scripture that God meets us in what we're going through, including in anxiety. And yes, sometimes he brings revelation or different perspective, and he also brings comfort. He catches us when our feet are slipping. He is our support.

So if you find yourself anxious today, whether it's about something going on in your life personally or in the lives of those you love, or in the world, I invite you to bring that feeling to the Lord today asking him to meet you in the middle of it. A practice that I find helpful is worshiping. When I recognize I feel tense in my body, I feel on edge. I feel uncomfortable. I know my thoughts are spiraling. I feel this emotion welling in me. I turn on worship music. I turn my attention to the Lord. I ask him to help me be aware of his presence there with me, and I can feel sometimes in my body, that anxiety lessening. That tension melting away.

Sometimes I physically model what I'm doing in my spirit and I take my clenched hands and I say, “Lord, I feel anxious about this, and I open my hands. I release this to you. God, I lay this at your feet. I don't want to carry this anymore. And now my heart and my eyes, my focus is placed on you.”

If you're feeling anxious today, turn your heart to God. Ask him what that might look like for you to release that anxiety to him and how he might show you in ways you can notice that you're releasing that, you're entrusting that need over to him. That you're not holding that anxiety back.

Here's a question you can use to talk with God more about it:

God, what can I notice in my body? What can I notice here physically as I release this anxiety to you in your presence?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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