By His Grace
How to Trust God When You Battle Anxiety

How to Trust God When You Battle Anxiety

by | Jun 27, 2019 | Featured

In our modern fast-paced society anxiety is on the rise, and it can be crippling. I first addressed this topic on By His Grace with Jodi Howe in Episode 3 on Conquering Anxiety. In that episode, we discuss how to cope with anxiety as a Christian. Jodi shares strategies she uses for coping with anxiety, and the importance of listening to the Lord’s wisdom instead of the world’s wisdom.

Anxiety isn’t just an emotional condition, many times there are physiological reasons behind anxiety. This week’s guest on By His Grace Ginger Harrington shares her diagnosis of Grave’s Disease and her struggle with anxiety, and how God used this health crisis to grow her faith. Tune in to this week’s podcast to hear more of Ginger’s story, and what God revealed to her in the process.

How to Trust God When You Battle Anxiety

By Ginger Harrington

It’s the uncertainties that keep me up at night.

Years ago, I was diagnosed with Graves Disease, a hyperthyroid autoimmune disease. I didn’t have time to be sick.

I didn’t matter.

Plunging down the drop of a thyroid-induced roller coaster, blood pressure and adrenaline flooded my system and it was months before I felt anything close to calm.

It was months before my hands stopped shaking.

Months before I slept more than an hour a night.

Sometimes God allows us to face challenges so that we can act on our faith on a deeper level.

If you struggle with anxiety, consult your doctor or meet with a counselor to address the cause of your challenge. It’s also important to explore the faith component of dealing with fear. There comes a time when it is not enough to talk about trusting God.

Sometimes God allows us to face challenges so that we can act on our faith on a deeper level. Share on X

When doubt pounds against belief, we can experience God in a new way as He provides for needs, gives comfort, and infuses strength. These are proofs of God’s goodness in the face of need.

In the struggle, victory is found one choice at a time.

God encouraged me with these words as I meditated on Isaiah 26:3:

“When you are anxious, your emotional attention is on the problem rather than fixed on Me.  When you look at the storm, the storm is what you will see. When your mind is stayed on Me, you will know the perfect peace that grows out of trusting me and is evidence of My Presence within you. I AM your peace.” (NASB).

When you experience worry or anxiety, consider these truths: 

  1. Faith is a gift of God, not some secret power we must somehow manufacture on our own (Ephesians 2:8-9).
  2. Focus on the power of God rather than the presence of a problem (Matthew 6: 27-14).
  3. Don’t let the hard days keep you from finding strength and comfort in God’s word (Psalm 94:18-19).
  4. Seek out supportive friends. Don’t isolate yourself when anxiety robs you of peace (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
  5. Not every moment is good, but believe God is good in every moment (Psalm 103:1-5).
  6. The more secure we are in the love of God, the more we trust His Heart even in the difficulties and disappointments of life. (Psalm 73:26).

God used my struggle with autoimmune disease to put a little grit into my faith, teaching me that my feelings cannot define my faith. I might feel fear, but the choice to rely on God is my path to peace. Never discount small, brave acts of faith that spur you to go on rather than give in.

Especially in our toughest experiences, holiness and peace are found in each small-but-significant choice to trust God . . . one more time.

-Adapted from Holy in the Moment.

Discover more practical ways to experience wholeness and life-change through a deeper relationship with God in Ginger’s award-winning book, Holy in the Moment: Simple Ways to Love God and Enjoy Your Life (Abingdon Press). Read a free chapter. Get your free gift of  Summer Soul Refresh: 31 Simple Ways to Restore Your Soul, available now at GingerHarrington.com.

A Selah-Award finalist, Ginger Harrington is the author of Holy in the Moment: Simple Ways to Love God and Enjoy Your Life, as well as the publishing director for the non-profit organization, Planting Roots: Strength the Thrive in Military Life. As a dynamic speaker, Ginger helps women learn practical ways to experience wholeness and healing in Christ.

 

Connect with Ginger on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Pinterest. Join the Holy in the Moment Community, a private Facebook group to engage with book content and celebrate our moments together.

Ginger Harrington: Graves Disease and Anxiety Struggles

Ginger Harrington: Graves Disease and Anxiety Struggles

by | Jun 24, 2019 | Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:38 — 19.2MB)

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Ginger Harrington shares the roller coaster ride of emotions. Her health struggle with Grave’s Disease and her subsequent battle with anxiety. We discuss God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials, and practical to wisdom for someone struggling with Grave’s Disease.

A Selah-Award finalist, Ginger Harrington is the author of Holy in the Moment: Simple Ways to Love God and Enjoy Your Life, as well as the publishing director for the non-profit organization, Planting Roots: Strength the Thrive in Military Life. A dynamic speaker, Ginger helps women learn practical ways to experience wholeness and healing in Christ.

Connect with Ginger on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Pinterest.

The Technology Struggle with Screen Time

The Technology Struggle with Screen Time

by | Jun 20, 2019 | Featured

Video games, social media, television, and computer screens dominate our lives! The struggles with technology and screen time are real! My guest today is Doug Smith author of [Un]Intentional: How Screens Secretly Shape Your Desires, and How You Can Break Free.

Please welcome Doug Smith to By His Grace, and you can listen to the podcast we recorded here:Struggling with Screen time

The Technology Struggle with Screen Time

by Doug Smith

I’m grateful for Misty’s invitation to share with you today. Misty’s new book title captures the journey of faith with profound simplicity: The Struggle Is Real: But So Is God. For many of us, few struggles are more real than those we fight over technology.

If we’re not fighting our own screen-based battles, we’re struggling with a spouse who devotes too much time to a glowing rectangle. Or we’re wrestling with our kids’ tendency to care more about their virtual lives than their homework, chores, or real-world time with family and friends.

In my years of research — not only as a tech industry professional, but also as a man, husband, and dad to four girls — I’ve learned the chilling reason our struggles with screens are so real. The industries behind our devices intentionally make their content distracting, habit-forming, and addictive. We’re all watching, clicking, swiping, buying, or playing because they’re so good at exploiting our natural psychological weaknesses.

By enticing us to spend 6, 8, 10, even 12 hours a day enthralled by an endless barrage of apps, games, videos, posts, tweets, or memes, they’re stealing what’s most valuable to us: our attention, our time, and ultimately, our very lives.

For many of us, few struggles are more real than those we fight over technology. Share on X

Many people throw in the towel when they feel overwhelmed by the struggle. It’s just too hard to fight against the onslaught of billions of screens. They’re too exhausted for one more fight with their son over Fortnite, or for another argument with their daughter about Snapchat.

And on our own, the struggle is overwhelming.

But God. But God. The Bible overflows with defeat-to-victory stories where the impossible was turned into reality by But God. David cried out to God, saying “My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). Jesus’ disciples were hopeless after He was crucified, “But God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:30). The world was without eternal hope, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love … made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

God makes all the difference. When we invite Him into our struggle by surrendering everything to Him, He gives us all we need to overcome (2 Peter 1:3-4).

The surprising answer is that we often surrender to the wrong thing. We surrender to the struggle by giving up, instead of surrendering to the One who can help us overcome whatever is holding us back.

What can you do to become more intentional with your life than the industries who want you to waste your life on their platforms?

Here are four ways to get started:

First, choose to hope in God. Don’t give up. Hope sometimes comes from telling ourselves truths like David did. “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him” (Psalm 43:5).

Second, learn the strategies used to keep us hooked on our screens. Find out how techniques such as autoplay, like buttons, and loot boxes are designed to manipulate us. Let that knowledge embolden you to break free.

Third, discover your God-given purpose. You and your family are here for so much more than to live as data-slaves of the most powerful corporations in the world. When you’re walking in your purpose, no screen will be able to pull you away from it.

Finally, cultivate Biblical practices that fill you with God’s presence so you can fulfill His calling on your life. When you integrate timeless spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible study, worship, and silence, your thoughts and actions will be shaped by God’s Spirit instead of the screen-saturated spirit of our age.

Yes, The Struggle Is Real: But So Is God. Apply that truth to the struggles over the screens in your life today, and find a freedom you may never have known before.

Doug Smith offers an insider’s perspective on the impact of technology, informed by over two decades of web programming experience and a lifetime of Bible study. He’s a popular speaker, mentor, and author of [Un]Intentional: How Screens Secretly Shape Your Desires, and How You Can Break Free. Doug is gratefully married to fellow author, Lyneta, and the couple is blessed with four wonderful daughters. Find out more at http://thatdougsmith.com and http://unintentionalbook.com.

 

 

By His Grace Podcast exists to help you make sense of the struggles of life by examing things through a Biblical Perspective. Please let us know how we can pray for you!

Much Love,

Misty Phillip

Doug Smith – Struggling with Screen Time

Doug Smith – Struggling with Screen Time

by | Jun 18, 2019 | Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:17 — 25.3MB)

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The average person spends 6-12 hours a day in front of a screen. Many people don’t even realize the amount of time they spend consuming media each day. Doug Smith offers an insider’s perspective on the impact of technology, informed by over two decades of web programming experience and a lifetime of Bible study. He’s a popular speaker, mentor, and author of [Un]Intentional: How Screens Secretly Shape Your Desires, and How You Can Break Free. Doug is gratefully married to fellow author, Lyneta, and the couple is blessed with four wonderful daughters. Doug shares 5 Biblical practices to help you be more intentional.

Find out more at http://thatdougsmith.com and http://unintentionalbook.com.

3 Things I Learned from Struggling to Find My Calling

3 Things I Learned from Struggling to Find My Calling

by | Jun 13, 2019 | Featured

Struggles come in all shapes and size some big, some small, but everyone has struggles unique to them. However, there are common struggles we all share. For instance, my youngest son graduates next year from high school and is thinking about his future. What he should do for work, where he should go to school, should he go to community college or go off to a University? When we have conversations with him about this it usually ends with us telling him to pray about and seek God. The truth is he may plan to go in one direction, but God may lead him in a completely different direction.
 
This week on the podcast I interviewed Eric Nevins host of the Halfway There Podcast: Eric Nevins: Struggle to Find Your Calling We talked about the struggle to find your calling, how God sometimes plants you somewhere that doesn’t make sense, and His grace to not waste that time. Today Eric shares his wisdom with us on the blog. Please welcome Eric Nevins.
 
 
3 Things I Learned from Struggling to Find My Calling
by Eric Nevins
 
“Well, I’m off to waste another day of my life,” I thought as I rumbled down the road to my office. Nine years after graduating with a seminary degree and trying multiple avenues to enter various other professions, I was still working at a bank doing work that felt meaningless. Wasn’t there more to life than this, especially if I felt called to ministry? Turns out the answer was yes, and for the time being no.
 
Here are three things I learned to do from a twenty-year struggle to find my calling:
 

Cultivate contentment

 
It may seem counter-intuitive to suggest that the first step to struggling with your calling well is to cultivate contentment but I’m here to tell you it’s true. A lack of contentedness will rob you of the opportunity to enjoy the season of life you are in.
 
For example, I once had the best job in the world and didn’t know it. In college, I worked as an in house security guard at a small benefits firm. This place was amazing. We had 24-hour access to all the soda, juice, and yogurt you could ask for. Lunches were free and leftovers plentiful. Any time of day you wanted food, it was not far off. The work required me to be available at the door to let the appropriate people in and to make a check of the doors every so often. That was it! The rest of our time was spent on the internet, reading books for school, and wading knee deep in theological waters with my coworkers.
 
When they outsourced our jobs I raged but really I was mourning. You never know what you had until it’s gone especially if you do not actively appreciate what you have at the time. Wherever you are, even if you feel hopelessly stuck, look for one good thing every day and let them build up to increase your contentment.
 
 

Get great at whatever you can

 
Work habits have a tendency to build on one another and develop into skills. For example, I spent over 10 years in the abyss known as customer service. Yes, I worked in a call center for over a decade. I still cannot believe it myself. Many days were full of boredom while saying the same thing over and over again. I started to think of my job like Name That Tune and go so good at it that I could tell what the customer needed within a few words. I never imagined that I was developing a skill of listening behind the words, developing an ear for tones that told me more was going on. I couldn’t have known that later I would use this skill to create a podcast that I love and has helped many. But it has.
 
 

Keep an eye toward the future

 
This one is so important. Even if you don’t know what your calling is or had some failures in what you thought was your calling, keep dreaming. Why? Because you never know what will catch on and capture your heart.
 
After graduating from seminary, I started a blog about Christians and politics, everything you’re not supposed to talk about. I quickly realized that I didn’t have as much to say as I thought but was able to get books from publishers. One of those books changed my life and convinced me that telling stories was more powerful than telling people what to think about complex issues. Years later, that conviction would lead me to start a little podcast called Halfway There that now has hundreds of thousands of downloads.
 
Life is a series of events and experiences that all stack on one another. If you’re having a hard time finding your calling ask the Lord, try everything, and don’t give up.
 
Eric Nevins is the host of Halfway There, founder of Christian Podcasters Association and author of 8 Day Experience, a collection of short, contemplative Bible studies design to go deeper with the Lord.
 

Thanks for visiting By His Grace today! You also enjoy posts from other recent guests like Cheyenne Bell, Katie M. Reid, or Kate Battistelli. If you are struggling to make sense out of life you may want to check out my newly released best selling Bible Study.

The Struggle is Real: But so is God Bible Study is a 6-week journey through the Bible that will:

Equip you with empowering wisdom.

Help you grow spiritually by claiming God’s promises as your own.

Teach you how to declare scripture over yourself to strengthen your inner being.

Show you how to conquer challenges by activating God’s Word in your life. 

Grab your copy of The Struggle Is Real: But So is God Bible Study. Perfect for a summer or fall Bible Study. For personal study or with a small group.

Much Love,

 

 

Misty Phillip

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