Suicide: Warning Signs and How to Help

So, we met on the 3rd floor last night for the first time since Covid-19 swept across the globe. It was a bittersweet experience since we didn't have PI making amazing FroZones for everyone. Maybe we will get up there one more time before he leaves and convince him to make us all drinks. We'll see.

We saw some old faces, we saw some new faces, we saw some young faces, and we saw some masked faces. With the Governor's decision to lift the mask mandate starting tomorrow, we won't see as many masked faces moving forward. My hope, however, is that even after social distancing restrictions are removed, people continue to respect the personal space of others. Who's with me on this?

Last night we tackled a topic most serious: suicide. Most of what we talked about can be found in this article on Life Church's website, but I would like to quickly summarize some of the key points that were made (especially since I think you need an account to view the article).

Firstly, let's talk about how prevalent (important) this issue is in our society today. In the late 1990's suicide rates among young people were actually declining (less people were taking their own lives). However, in the last two decades this has reversed and suicide rates among young people have been on the rise. Right now, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people, the #1 cause being accidents. Back in 2016, more people in the U.S. died by suicide than by homicide - that means more people were taking their own life than were having it taken by someone else. That's disheartening, to say the least. In the next 24 hours, approximately 1,439 teenagers will attempt suicide, and about 80% of students who die by suicide never contact mental health services (they don't reach out for help).

This is a real problem in our society. Our young people are so disillusioned about life here on this earth, and so disheartened by the state of the world that they would rather take themselves out of it than remain. They see no bright future, no hope or reason to continue, so they opt out. Something needs to be done. Someone needs to do something. WE need to do something!

**I don't necessarily recommend watching the show "One Tree Hill" as there are a lot of twisted themes and perspectives throughout it, but if you want to see a powerful depiction of the kind of hopelessness that leads a young person to end their life, watch Season 3, Episode 16 - "With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept". I don't want anyone to go through the kind of hopelessness, depression, and despair that the student in this episode experienced.**

Signs to Watch Out For:

- Changes in eating habits

- Sad or depressed mood

- Loss of energy, motivation, or interest (especially in things they are usually passionate about)

- Withdrawal and increased isolation

- Statements about hopelessness, worthlessness, or self-harm

When you begin to see these signs in someone (or in yourself) then it is time to ask for help.

I'd like to note that it is okay to be sad. Sadness is a feeling we have in response to things we face in everyday life like loss of a loved one, frustrations, or even just a sad movie (or episode, as mentioned above). Depression, on the other hand, goes way beyond a feeling. It is debilitating (it controls your mood and mindset very negatively) and it is seemingly impossible to get out of. When you are looking for the signs mentioned above, depression is when sadness doesn't seem to go away. It is when sadness lasts for weeks, into months, possibly into years when left unchecked.

We noted last night that the church is a safe place to open up. People get this idea that church is where perfect people go, but actually, the opposite is true. When people come to believe in Jesus Christ, they admit that they are not perfect and that they need saving. Church is for imperfect, hurting people to come and experience God's love and mercy. And it is a safe place to open up about what is really going on under the surface. When someone is depressed, they usually feel alone, detached, and disconnected from others. The problem is, our go-to response to this is further isolate ourselves - which of course makes it even worse. When we or someone we know is depressed, it is vitally important to find a way to connect with someone else. Reach out to a leader, a trusted friend, or a family member. Don't stay isolated.

Some things you can do to help when you start to see the signs listed above in someone:

1. Ask questions. Open up a conversation, and don't be afraid to mention that you are concerned about them. Let them know you care and are available to talk if they are willing.

2. Listen. Don't just ask, listen to their answers.

3. Be there. Sit with them and let your presence be a reminder that they are not alone. Sometimes we don't know what to say, and that's okay because sometimes we don't need to say anything - we just need to be there.

4. Help them connect. You cannot do it alone. Don't try to help them by yourself, instead, try to get them connected with a larger support system: friends, family, medical professionals (if necessary), pastors, and/or counselors.

5. Pray. This is the single most important thing you can do. Pray with them, pray for them, pray over them. Just pray. Believe in the power of prayer and know that God hears us.

The last things we talked about was hope. One of the leading causes of depression (when not a medical issue) is a sense of hopelessness. People look out at the world around them and decide it is not worth living in - that somehow, it is better to die. As Christians, we know the one Person who can offer hope in this dark, broken world: Jesus Christ. He offers to give us salvation from our sins, purpose for our lives here on earth, and the hope of everlasting life with God when this life is over. We talked about 3 points from the Bible that give us hope:

1. God loves and values us. Check out Psalm 139:13-16, Romans 5:8, and John 3:16 to see what the Bible has to say about this.

2. God has an amazing plan for our lives. Check out Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28.

3. God can give us the strength to overcome any struggle. Check out Psalm 46:1-2, Psalm 9:9-10, and Isaiah 40:29-31.

There is nothing we can do earn God's love, He just loves us. And there is nothing we can do to lose God's love, either. We always have hope and we can always rely on Him.

When we come alongside someone who is struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide, it is important for us to share this hope. If the person is a Christian, remind them of these things. If they are not a Christian, share the message about Jesus - it is the most hope you can offer them in this world. Then, remind them that they are not alone.

If you have questions about what to do, resources, or next steps in regard to helping someone struggling with these kinds of thoughts, please ask those questions in the comments below. If you need advice, prayer, or support, please reach out to me, to a friend, to someone.

God bless yall.

The Sharpest Tools in the Shed

 For some of you, reading that title immediately got you singing Smashmouth's "All Star" (just writing it got the song stuck in my head). I tip my hat to you. Well, last night I had a blast bringing back 4-Square in the gym. Turns out I'm not as rusty as I thought! We also brought back the insanely dangerous awesome game of Hungry Hungry Humans. If you don't know what that it is, just go look it up quickly on YouTube and you'll be sorry you missed out. ;)

Have you ever had to mow the lawn? When I was a teenager that was one of my responsibilities at home. I hated it. I always ended up sweaty and gross, covered in bits of grass and dirt and almost always with at least one new bug bite. The job itself seems pretty simple - turn on your mower and walk over the grass. On paper its a very simple job. But add in the heat, bumps in the ground, sticks in the way, and elevation changes and that simple task just became a lot harder.

Now imagine that I go out to mow my lawn and I think to myself "Hey Mike, you don't need a lawnmower to do this, you can handle it yourself!" And then I proceed to bend down and start ripping the grass up with my hands. With this method, how long do you think it is going to take me to finish "mowing" the lawn? The whole day? Maybe several days? With the size of my current lawn, I think the grass where I started will have regrown by the time I finish, meaning I'd have to start all over again! My hands would definitely be hurting something bad by the end of it (assuming I managed to finish at all).

The obvious question in this scenario is "Why didn't I use the tools at my disposal to handle the work more wisely and efficiently?" I had the tools, but I was choosing not to use them. And that's what we talked about last night: God has given us specific (and powerful) tools to handle the problems of life. So let's look at those together. Check out what James says in chapter one of his book:

James 1:2-5 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." (Emphasis mine)

The first tool God has given us is prayer. DO NOT underestimate the power of prayer. Prayers aren't just empty words spoken in a conversation, they are words filled with hope and expectation spoken to the God who can actually answer them. It is one thing to say "I wish I was wiser." It is something else entirely to pray and ask God for wisdom. When I wish for something, I'm just expressing a desire. "I wish I had some pizza right now." "I wish I wasn't lactose intolerant." "I wish I was as buff as Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson." But when I pray for something, I am asking God to give me what I desire. The difference? God can actually give it to me.

In fact, according to those verses above, God gives out wisdom freely. You want the wisdom to handle the problems of life? Pray and ask God, and He will give it to you.

I would also like to note that these verses assume that we will face trials of many kinds. James is like "Hey guys, you're going to run into problems, you just are." And he says we should "consider it pure joy" when we do. Why? Because facing problems is what causes us to grow and mature - both in life and in faith.

When I started to rock climb at the Gravity Vault, I got very comfortable climbing 5.9s (just one grade more difficult than beginner). That's all I wanted to do because I was good at it. Finally, my friends challenged to try something harder. When I did, I failed. I couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough and didn't have the skill or technique to do it. But they encouraged me to keep trying, to keep facing the problem. And as I did, I slowly became a stronger climber and was able to work my way up the grading scale all the way to 5.12s (one step below expert). If was never challenged to do something harder, I never would have grown stronger. So James is right to tell us to take joy in facing our problems, because through them we grow stronger, more mature and complete in our faith. And prayer is one of the tools God has given us to overcome those problems.

Now let's look to tool #2, and for that we'll take a look at Proverbs 3:1-6 - "My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Well, the joke is on you. We've actually been using tool #2 this whole time! The second tool God has given us is His Word - the Bible. Proverbs, in particular, is packed with wise sayings about how to handle (or avoid) the problems of this life. The Bible, the Word of God, is not just a bunch of stories about the history of Israel or even all about the life of Jesus. It is full of the knowledge of God, and guidelines for living wisely and confidently in this broken world.

I'm not much of a "car guy", to the point that I can never even remember what size windshield wipers I need for my car. It seems like a small problem, but the wrong size can make it so they don't work properly on the car. There are a couple of ways I can go about trying to figure it out: 1) I can buy a bunch of different sizes until I get the right size, 2) I can go ask a mechanic or someone who would know (although they can get it wrong), or 3) I can look it up in the vehicle's manual - which will tell me exactly what size wiper I need.

I think too often we try to face our problems with option 1 - we keep trying different things until something works. Sometimes we'll opt for option 2, and ask someone for advice (but they could be wrong or give bad advice). Really, our first thought should be option 3, to go to God and His Word for the right answer of how to handle whatever situation we've come across.

As these verses advise, we should keep the Word of God close to our hearts, reading portions of it every day and continuing to think about them throughout the day. We should definitely be living by the teaching of the Bible, loving others and being faithful to our word every day. And in verses 5-6, it says we should trust God fully and not rely on our own understanding of things. We need to recognize when we don't know what to do and then go to God for guidance. What will happen when we do this? He will show us the right way to go.

There is a 3rd tool hidden in there, too. The book of Proverbs was written by a man to his son (using God's wisdom as his primary source of knowledge). God hasn't sent us out into the world alone. No, He has given us a global community of fellow believers to support us (and whom we should support). When we're not sure what to do, we can go to other Christians and ask for advice and guidance (this is literally what Pastors are there for).

So, God has given us several tools to work with in facing the problems of this life. He has given us the power of prayer so we can ask for His help directly, His written Word so we can use it as a reference and guide, and other Christians who can encourage and support us in times of need.

If you are reading this, here is what I want you to do. Think of a problem you are facing right now (it can be anything, big or small). It shouldn't be too hard to think of one - we all face problems on a daily basis. Once you have a specific problem in mind, I want you to pray and ask God to give you the wisdom to handle that situation. Do it. Right now. Pray something like this: "God, give me the wisdom to handle this situation the way You would want me to."

Once you have prayed, look to the Bible. In order to be reading this you must be in some kind of web browser, so open up a new tab and look up what the Bible has to say about what you're dealing with. Maybe you are struggling with a particular sin, or drama in your friend group. If its the drama, you can look up what the Bible has to say about our relationships with others and how to maintain peace and harmony.

Once you have done this, follow the advice. If you're not sure what to look for, or you're not sure what to do in response, use tool #3. Ask your fellow Christians. Shoot me a message or ask another one of the leaders from youth group. Don't just sit there in confusion, seek out an answer.

God has given us these tools so that no matter what problem we face, we are equipped with the tools we need to face it. He doesn't send us to mow the lawn without a mower. He doesn't leave us to pull up the grass by hand. He equips us to face life, and He stands with us and faces it with us. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

God bless yall.

Come to Me, You Who Are Weary, and I Will Give You Rest

 Last night looked a little different as far as the message goes. Instead of a typical "Leader gets up and talks about something for half an hour", we looked at a couple of different scenarios and then worked in small groups to unpack what the Bible had to say about how to handle those scenarios. Before the message time, however, we took turns whacking each other with foam swords in a series of duels.

Let me ask you a question. When you have a problem, where do you go for advice? Do you have a particular friend who is your "go to" for problem-solving? Does it depend on what kind of problem it is? Maybe you have a good relationship with your parents and you often go to them for advice. Every now and then someone will come to me, but I'm not usually their "Option A" (maybe more like "Option Z"). So, where do you go? Take a second and really lock in an answer before reading further. Got it? Good.

Was your answer "I go to God and His Word"? My guess is, probably not. One of the main problems I see in our group is that we (yes, I am including myself in this) will go just about anywhere else first for advice before going to God and the Bible. For some reason, our gut instinct is to ask a friend, or a parent, or even Google before opening up the Bible for answers. The crazy thing about this is that we would rather trust other created beings than trust the Almighty Creator. I mean, seriously, if we really believe that God created everything (which according to our beliefs, He did) then wouldn't He be the first person we go to for advice on how to live in His Creation?

Logically, it makes sense for us to go to God. But the sad truth is that often, we don't. This needs to change. Our gut instinct should be to go to God first. To read the Bible first, before going to other people (who can then help us understand what God says to do in the Bible). Last night, in an effort to get this point across, I had everybody split into groups and work through case studies. Each group was given a short scenario and some Bible verses to look through. Their goal was to figure out what the person in the scenario should do according to what the Bible said about that scenario. I won't share the scenarios here, but the point of the message was to show that the Bible has the answer. God knows how to handle any and every situation we come across, and He has given us access to that knowledge through His written Word. All we have to do is read it.

Matthew 11:28-30 says this: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

When we have problems in this life, and stress is weighing us down, Jesus invites us to come alongside Him. He invites us to go to Him with our problems so He can share the load. The imagery in this passage ties back to an old farming technique, where two oxen would be connected together through a wooden device called a "yoke". The yoke kept the oxen side-by-side as they dragged a large plow through the dirt to loosen it and make it ready for planting. When training new oxen for this, what the farmer would do is take an older, seasoned ox and pair him with a young, inexperienced ox. The older ox, who knew what to do, would lead the way (taking most of the weight and doing most of the work) as the young ox had no choice but to follow. Over time, the young ox learned what to do and would be able to work with the old ox so that they were working together. That is what Jesus invites us to. He is the old ox - full of experience and knowledge of what to do - and we are the young ox - inexperienced and untrained. He offers to guide us through life and teach us the way we should go, all we have to do is go to Him.

So, if you're frustrated by the problems of this life, and you don't know what to do - look to Jesus. Go to Him, read His Word and learn from Him, and He will give you rest for your soul. He will show you the way. My hope is that moving forward, your first instinct when facing a new problem would be to go to the Bible. And if you don't know where to look, or you don't understand what it says, go to a leader, come talk to me. We are literally here to help you grow and mature in your walk with God, so we would love to hear from you and help you find answers.

If you have a situation and you need advice, or would like to know what the Bible has to say about handling that situation, you can post it anonymously in the comments below or share it in the box at the church (oh yeah, we have a box for questions now). My plan is to take one every week and share about it during the message. That's all for now, God bless you and your family.

Anxious Much?

 What is anxiety? This past Wednesday we took a closer look at what anxiety is, what it does to us, and what causes it. Then we dove into the Word of God to find out how we, as believers in Jesus Christ, should handle anxiety. Spiritual leaders often tell us to look at the Bible for answers to life's questions, and yet usually that's not our gut reaction. Why look to some old book when my friends are right here? But, when it comes to the difficulties of life, who should we trust more - the God who created this world or our friends who have about as much life experience as we do? The obvious answer to that question is that we should trust God more. But do we? Do we trust that God knows our problems and how to deal with them the right way?

Hopefully, if you are reading this, you are at least curious to know what the Bible has to say about handling anxiety in life. So, let's take a look at what we discussed at the Summit last Wednesday.

Anxiety defined: "Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness." Notice that it doesn't say "or" there. Anxiety is all of these things mixed together.

What does it do?

Some of the effects of anxiety: sweating, feeling restless and tense, rapid heartbeat, trembling, breathing rapidly (hyperventilation), weakness or feeling tired, difficulty concentrating, trouble sleeping, a tendency to avoid the triggers (avoiding thinking about what you're anxious about), etc. Feel free to add in some of your own experiences of when you get anxious. Usually, anxiety causes different effects for different people. When I get anxious, for example, I get sweaty, tense, I feel weak and I have trouble sleeping. In an attempt to "avoid the triggers" I will try to distract myself by watching a show or playing an immersive game. What does anxiety do to you?

Now, sometimes anxiety can be a good thing - it can force us to prepare for things to come (like when we are anxious about a big test so we go overboard on the studying) or it can light a fire under our butts to start working on a paper before the deadline. Unfortunately, anxiety is usually a bad thing. It paralyzes us from doing anything other than worrying. We call this crippling anxiety. The feelings of fear, dread, and uneasiness are so strong that we get physically sick or just feel trapped and unable to do anything.

Does anxiety ever solve our problems, though? No. Worrying, by itself, doesn't solve anything. Like, I can worry about my test all I want, but unless I actually study for it, that worrying isn't going to help me get a better grade. Or, I can worry all I want about the church van breaking down on its way to HCBC, but worrying isn't going to stop it from happening. <= I proved this on our second attempt last year as I worried about the van breaking down, and it still broke down...

What causes anxiety?

The short answer: stress. Anxiety (and worry) is a natural response to stressful situations like a problem at work, a test at school, relationship drama in your friend group, or an upcoming important decision. Sometimes anxiety can be caused by a medical issue (although this is rare). As I said earlier, anxiety is a form of fear. It shows up when we are worried about something, something that we feel like we can't control. Its that feeling we get when we don't know what's going to happen.

How do we deal with it?

Here is where we start looking to God's Word. Before we do, though, I want you to do something. I want you to think about a situation that gives you anxiety. What are you dealing with right now that is making you anxious? Is your friend group going through a fight? Are you having trust issues with a boyfriend/girlfriend? Is it something at home, either with your parents or siblings? Maybe you're just worried about what your future is going to look like. Whatever it is, I want you to have a specific situation in mind as we look at what God has to say about dealing with our anxiety. Do you have it? Good.

The passage we are about to read together is a familiar one to many Christians, and honestly, I think it gets taken out of context too much in the church. The book of Philippians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to a church in the city of Philippi. He talks about a lot of good stuff like the mindset of a Christian, how Christians should interact with each other and with the world, and what our priorities should be. And here, as he is getting to the conclusion of his letter, he gives this advice to Christians as they experience trouble in this world.

Philippians 4:4-7 - "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Let's walk through this advice together, step by step. First, he says to rejoice. This is so important that he feels the needs to repeat himself! REJOICE! What do we have to rejoice about? Well, think about your life right now: what are some good things you have to be thankful for? Some things that bring you joy? We have life, that is cause for celebration in and of itself (why else do we celebrate birthdays, after all?). We continue to have breath in our lungs. Through Jesus Christ we have a restored relationship with God, life everlasting, and the promise of an unending future with God. We have a family (who may be troubling at times, but they are usually there for us in one way or another). We have friends (some better than others). We have access to education, food, clean water, a roof over our heads. As we get more specific, we find many more things to rejoice over than we probably thought at first. Paul says that the first step to dealing with anxiety is to rejoice - to think about the joy in our lives.

We can also rejoice because of what Paul says next: "the Lord is near". We can rejoice because God is near us. And we can choose not to be anxious about anything because the Lord is near. Even as you are reading this, God is there with you. He is on your side. And if God is for us, then who can be against us?

This next part is the "famous" part, and gets quoted a lot: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation..." pray. Paul's advice here is not to just "stop worrying". That's not exactly what he means when he says "do not be anxious about anything". Instead, its more of a "rather than be anxious about this or that situation, pray about it". Remember, anxiety is a form of fear. Being anxious about something means that we are afraid of what is going to happen. So, instead of being afraid, pray about it, ask God to step in, and trust that God is in control.

Then what happens? "And the peace of God...will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." When we follow this process, we will find peace. The situation may or may not be resolved, yet we can have peace of mind because we know and trust that God is in control, so we don't need to be afraid anymore. We don't need to worry anymore (especially since worrying won't actually change anything).

So, in dealing with anxiety, we need to move along this path:

1. Rejoice - find what's good in your life and rejoice in it.

2. Remember (remind yourself) that the Lord is near. God has not abandoned you. He is right there with you, even now. He is there even when you can't feel Him there. Let that comfort you.

3. Identify what you are anxious about and pray to God that He would handle the situation. Entrust it to Him. Stop worrying about the situation and trust that it is in God's hands.

4. Embrace God's peace. Peace is like the opposite of worry. I often picture it as the calmness of the sea after Jesus calmed the storm in Matthew 8:23-27 (go read it if you want).

Now, let's read the next few verses in Philippians 4: "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. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

You ever notice how when someone tells you not to think about something, it becomes the only thing you can think about? Anxiety is just like that. If I said, "Just don't worry about it", or as the New Yorkers say "Forget about it", would you just stop worrying about it? Would you forget about it? NO! Of course not! Paul doesn't just say, "Hey, forget about it." He says to stop thinking about this, and start thinking about that, instead! He says to stop thinking about the situation you're anxious about, and instead start thinking about the things of God. Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy - think about those things.

All of this comes down to a mentality shift. When we are suffering from anxiety, it means we are solely focused on what could happen - usually what we are afraid is going to happen. Then, we become paralyzed because we feel like we can't do anything about it! The Bible tells us to stop. Stop focusing on what might happen, and what you cannot control, and start thinking about what God promises will happen, and what He can control. As Christians, we have already trusted God with our souls and our eternal future. We know that God wins in the end, and we are on the winning side. So, why can't we trust Him with everything else?

Do you still have that specific situation in mind? You know, the one I asked you to think about before we looked at Philippians? Okay, what I want you to do is to walk through these steps with that situation.

1. Rejoice - make a list of things in your life that you are thankful for (and don't settle for just what I listed above, try to be more specific to what you have).

2. Remind yourself that God is near. We are forgetful, and often forget that God is always with us. As anxiety creeps in, remember that God is next to you and you can talk to Him about it.

3. Identify what you are anxious about (name it and be specific about the situation). What are you worried is going to happen? Once you have named it (this works best by either writing it out, or speaking it out loud), talk to God about your fears. Talk to Him about the situation, what you fear might happen, and your feeling powerless to do anything. Turn it over to Him as you talk, saying something like "God, I can't do anything about this, but I know You can. I know You know what is going to happen. I trust that You are in control and that no matter what happens, You have my back."

4. Embrace the peace of God. As you are talking to God about your situation, you are allowed to ask for peace. But, even if you don't specifically ask for it, when you entrust your situation to God, His peace will come to you. For me, it usually feels like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders. What's weird is that most of the time, nothing about the situation has actually changed. The situation is still the same, its my mindset that is different. I am no longer looking at it from a "what if" perspective, but rather from a "God's got this" perspective. 

5. "Think about such things" and "put it into practice". Move on. Don't linger in the worry and anxiety. Look to what God is doing in the world, or perhaps even in the situation you were anxious about, and go join Him.

I hope this has been helpful to you. I hope that you are able to let go of your anxiety and turn it over to God. And I hope you are able to move on with your life, to move forward. In the comment below I have shared some additional verses from the Bible that touch on this topic of anxiety. I hope they are helpful to you as well. I have found that talking about our anxieties with other believers can also help, so if you need to talk, just reach out.