Practical Tips for Anxiety and PTSD

Dear beloved pastor’s wife, if I could sit down with you for a couple of hours and talk about anxiety, fear, panic attacks, depression, or stress, I would start with this: God delights in you. You are so loved, so precious to Him. And He knows that you are human.

“For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).

 

God delights in you, and I personally have so much respect for you! You are wives, moms, teachers, leaders, homemakers, counselors, and helpers of the most prominent man in your believing community. You are heroes to me, to your husband, to your church (whether they recognize if or not), and in the eyes of the Lord.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not taking a huge toll on you. Here’s the thing. Your frame is “dust.” I’ve written a short ebook, Take Courage: Choosing faith on my journey of fear, on the various aspects of fear and anxiety – spiritual, mental, and physical – in connection to my 8 years as a missionary wife in Haiti. But in our conversation today, I want to remind you especially of the physical. God knows your frame. So I want you to understand your frame as well.

Here’s what I want you to know: you cannot possibly do all the things you do without it affecting your body. Your anxiety, fear, panic attacks, and depression are so much more physical than you might realize. The load of stress you carry, combined with genetics, traumas, brain chemical imbalances, thyroid issues, adrenal fatigue, an imperfect diet, heavy metals, gut infections, viruses, bacterias, and countless other factors are taking out loans on the bank account of your health. And your body will in some way at some time remind you that these debts must be paid.

If your body is calling in your loan via anxiety, panic, or depression, I want to assure you, you are not failing. This doesn’t mean you don’t trust God enough. It doesn’t mean others are made of tougher dust than you! It’s a reminder that like all of us, you are indeed human, limited, and in need of God’s help. AND it’s a reminder that it’s time to make serious deposits back into your health.

As you seek help and explanation, just don’t lose sight of your foundation. Jesus is your rock. He is your peace; He is your hope; He is your salvation. Never forget this. He is the light in the middle of your darkness as you wait for answers.

I can testify to that, as only a few years back, I was bedridden for months, barely able to walk to the bathroom just a few feet away. Jesus was the breath in my lungs, and by His grace my fragile faith in Him remained. While I searched for physical explanations to my very physical problems, I was reminded that “my times are in [His] hands” (Psalm 31:15), and His “grace is sufficient” (2 Cor. 12:9).

There are seasons that He allows us to remain in the dark for His own purposes and glory as well as our growth. And in those times, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). Honestly, sometimes walking by faith is too much. Rather, we crawl, sob, tremble, and even fall to our faces in barely-mustard-seed-sized faith.

After months of my despair, God did bring answers. My “frame of dust” was massively infected, resulting in what looked to all medical doctors like nothing more than clinical depression. Interestingly enough, even though they were grossly wrong about the scope of my physical problems, antidepressants and prescription sleeping pills were indeed necessary at that point in time, because my body had become so worn down. Bacterial and parasitic intestinal infection created adrenal exhaustion (the over-stressing of my adrenal system which affects all the body’s hormones). While those issues were addressed with alternative medicine, we found that my body was also in desperate need of chemical balancing to dig me up out of my pit.

Embracing both ends of the medical spectrum was a challenge to my faith. “What would people think? Was I going to create an addiction or crutch? Did I just need a stronger faith or more will power?” But because of my level of desperation, I was forced to stop worrying and act. And thank God I did! My infection was slowly conquered, my adrenals got the support they needed, my brain chemicals slowly rebalanced, and I was eventually able to return to normal life, free of the panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, and darkness that had hung over me for so long. Even an irrational anxiety connected to driving that had clung to me for almost a decade faded away!

Everyone’s story is a little different. I don’t know exactly what’s happening in your life right now, physically, spiritually, or emotionally, but please know how deeply you are loved by your Heavenly Father. He loves you perfectly. In other words, He will always do exactly what is 100% best for you. I find this truth incredible. He loves you so much, that He has priceless gifts for you in the middle of your current crisis. He loves you too much to let you skip over the eternal reward your endurance will produce. And as you suffer, He is holding you, pleased with you, whispering in your ear that this is not wasted.

Trust Him. Rejoice in His perfect love that casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Don’t let healing become your idol. Surrender the level of results with Jesus. But go ahead and ask your oh-so-compassionate Father for wisdom as you look for ways to hold your frame of dust together long enough and well enough to complete the calling He has given you.

*If you need ideas of where to start to explore what might be off physically in your body, please feel free to message me. I’m not a health or medical expert, but I can make recommendations to those who know much more than me, as well as explain in more detail how I found help.