>> Get FREE Anxiety Journal and Biblical Thought Filter handouts <<

In our second episode on anxiety we bring it to a personal and practical level as Brenda walks through one of her own anxiety journals with Alex. 

As they walk step by step through the Anxiety Journal exercise (that is available for free on our website) Brenda and Alex show us how to take a very real moment of anxiety and work through it using Philippians 4:4-9. This Biblical self counsel tool takes us through what it looks like to pray, think, and act biblically in our anxiety or current struggle. 

Through Biblical prayer we are reminded that if we have His presence we have everything we need. Our anxieties can draw us into a deeper and more trusting relationship with Him because we can shift our eyes from our circumstances onto His promises and assurances. Using the thought filter tool we can acknowledge our internal monologue and bring Him our current thoughts and turn that into a conversation with God where we consider how God would speak into those very thoughts that reflect His character. 

It’s important for us to acknowledge that a lot of the time anxiety is inviting us into grief - but it can be easier for us to feel anxiety than engage in the grief underneath. Maybe we need to begin to ask ourselves what grief is the Lord asking me to enter into and lament before Him. 

Once we walk through those prayers and thoughts, we can move into productively channeling them into actions. We can look at the simple and practical ways to acknowledge our anxiety in the moment, and adjust our focus to the rest of our day. As we end the exercise we can begin to rest in the peace that is cultivated as we practice the presence of God through biblical self- counsel.

Scripture memory and meditation, within the anxiety journal and in everyday life, help our minds to create new neural pathways. We have the power to slowly change those pathways as we meditate on biblical truths and God’s promises. It is mentally impossible to focus both on my worry and God’s word - and we can practice continually redirecting our attention from worries to truth to help us walk through hard moments. 

This is something we can invite others into! We can share our journals with someone who can encourage, comfort, and challenge us as we walk through our anxieties and in turn become more equipped to walk with the same struggles with others.

To sign up for free visuals and discussion questions for this season click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Our theme music is by ⁠⁠As Isaac⁠⁠.

This podcast is made possible by engineers and producers ⁠⁠Zachary Tate Smith⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Shane Selby⁠⁠, executive producer ⁠⁠Meleah Smith⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠generous donors⁠⁠.

⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠ is ⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠ and Brenda Payne. This fourth season of Conversational Counseling is called "Wisdom for life's common struggles.”