Peter Tan-Chi - Overcome Anxiety
Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This Sunday, we want to begin a new series. It's called Life Detox: Now let me ask you: what enters your mind when you see the word "detox"? Let me help explain this. First, you have to define what is toxic. The word "toxic" simply means any poisonous substance in your body that can cause harm or eventually, it will cause death. And my friend, poisonous substances, toxic substances can have immediate effect or it can have longterm effect. For example, years ago, people have no idea that asbestos is toxic. It was used for a lot of materials, from pipes to roofing materials to walls. Cigarettes! My goodness, for many years, people had no idea that cigarette smoking, secondary smoking, is cancerous, it can cause death, it can harm your lungs.
I want to discuss toxic emotions, because toxic emotions are as dangerous, if not more dangerous. Why? Because we don't think of these emotions as toxic, like anxiety, worry, fear, entitlement, purposelessness, anger. But the good news is this, we will help identify what are toxic emotions, not all of them, but we will discuss in the coming series: how do you overcome toxic emotions? This series is so important because it has now been proven beyond any doubt, the connection between toxic emotions and our physical health. Toxic emotions like worry, anger, releases hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, et cetera, that can harm your health.
The biggest challenge today, especially during this pandemic, is the toxic emotion of It is the number one mental disorder in America today. There are different names for this: panic attack, anxiety disorder, traumatic stress disorder. It affects the heart. It affects your blood pressure. It affects your immune system. It affects your stomach, that's why many people have ulcers. And if this is prolonged, eventually, it has been proven it shortens life. It causes unnecessary early death. But what is more serious about this topic is the reality that toxic emotions will not only harm your physical health, it will harm your relationships with the people around you, your family members. It will also harm your relationship with God.
This topic is so relevant today, especially among family members. It has been proven anxious parents will inevitably produce anxious children. Children copy the worries, and the anxieties of parents. Therefore, it is extremely important that parents understand, they need to learn to manage these toxic emotions called anxiety, worry. Because the way you handle issues, problems, your own worries, will impact your children. God's desire is for us to have healthy emotions. Let me repeat: not all emotions are bad, but here are the extremes. Why are we talking about emotions? To me, emotion is something that was invented by God. It is what makes us human. The only question is this: do you have positive emotions or do you have negative emotions, and how do you deal with emotions?
For some people, they deny. They think it is not important at all. They don't deal with emotions. For the other extreme, you allow emotions to control you. Both are not healthy. Learn to manage emotions. Today, we are going to deal with anxiety, worry. Is it wrong to be anxious? Well, let's find out from Jesus. Jesus gives us a command in Matthew 6:25, 26. Let me tell you what it says: Jesus gives us a command: do not be worried about your life. Grammatically, it's in the present tense. Stop worrying, meaning they are worried. You see, Jesus knows that we all worry about finance, about food, about clothing, and He tells them stop worrying.
In fact, He gave them solutions. He told them, Verse 26, "I take care of them". Then He tells them, "Don't worry because you cannot do anything about it," that's verse 27. What can you do to add life if you are worrying, worrying is useless. And then verse 28, He tells you, "Why are you worried about clothing? Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the valley. I take care of them". He reminded them that we have a Heavenly Father who will take care of us. So, let me share with you: how do we overcome toxic emotions?
The beginning of the series is called: There are four Rs I'd like you to remember. The first R is realize we all struggle with anxiety. Number two: go to the root problem. Number three: recalibrate your thinking. And lastly, you must recognize God. You must recognize who God is. Let's begin with Psalm 42:1 and 2. Psalm 42 is an amazing psalm. It deals with the reality of anxiety, of worry. It begins by telling us the heart of the author. We don't know who the author was, but he says the following: What the author is saying is, "Lord, I long for You. As the deer is thirsty for water, Lord, I thirst for You".
Look at verse two: Here is a description of a good man. He longs for God. Notice what he tells us, the reality of problems. He talks about his tears, You see, you must realize all of us struggle with negative emotions. Here the author is saying, "I'm crying". You know, what was the author's problem? He was being attacked. "Where is your God? What kind of God do you have"? The author continues. What do you mean, "I remember"? He now remembered the good old days. Sometimes when you remember the good old days, your anxiety will increase. Your sadness will increase. He said, The author apparently was a song leader! He was a worship leader! He said, "I used to attend worship services, and those were good times"!
But notice, you must realize. You must admit. We do struggle with worry, anxiety. Look at verse five. He now asked, This phrase, "Why are you in despair, O my soul"? First, you have to realize there's a problem. He realized he was struggling with what? Anxiety, worry. "Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become disturbed within me"? So, first principle is to humble yourselves and admit, realize there are issues you struggle with. Many people will not want to admit. They are into denial. When you are into denial, how can you grow? How can you improve? Once you're willing to admit, then and only then can you move forward. And that's why in Matthew 6, Jesus knew the disciples were struggling with anxiety, with worry.
That's why He told them, "Do not be anxious". Grammatically, what is Jesus saying? Do not be anxious about your what? Food, clothing, shelter. Jesus is saying stop being anxious. In order to be helped, you need to realize you are struggling with this. In the past, I did struggle with worry and anxiety. What do I mean? When I first got married, I have a lovely wife, young family, CCF has not started yet, something happened to our family business. My father used to own the largest textile mill, and we put up a chemical plant to supply the raw material. It's one of those amazing projects. But believe it or not, I got kicked out of our own company. I was fired from my own job. It affected me emotionally. I was thinking, how can I provide for my family? How can I provide for our future? By the grace of God, God helped me overcome anxiety.
And that's why I want to share these principles with you. Realize it. Number two: root problem, you go to the root. How do you go to the root? In Psalm 42, the author repeated many times talking to himself. He repeated. When you ask the question "Why"?, New Caption why deals with the root problem. Many times we are superficial. We don't deal with root issues. Beware of superficiality. I remember years ago when I stepped on something on the beach and I thought all I needed to do was to put some antiseptic and then the wound in my foot will get well. But you know the reality? It did not get well. Before I knew it, I saw some infection, and I realized this is serious. I cannot just put antiseptic. Then I discovered the root problem.
You know what was the root problem? There was a tiny splinter that got into my foot, and I realized until that splinter is removed, my foot will not heal. The truth is many times we deal with problems superficially. We think the problem is because of others. We think the problem is because of circumstances. It's called superficially analyzing the problem. They blame their husbands. They blame their wives. They blame their fathers. They blame their past. You will not resolve your problem until you go to the root. Beware of blaming others. I remember this father which I've been ministering to, a successful businessman. At that time, he was not in CCF, but by the grace of God, I was able to counsel him. He was complaining about his wife, he was complaining about his family.
When I told him, "Do you know your root problem"? You see, he could never see that the root problem was himself. It took years. Finally, he said, "Peter, I finally got it. The problem with my family is not my wife. It's me". Now by the grace of God, he is growing. When I counsel people, rule number one: you've got to let them realize there's an issue. Second, you've got to go to the root, the why. You've got to ask them, "What is causing this problem"? Have you ever tried talking to yourself? I call this self-talk. I practice this in my life. I remember years ago when somebody criticized me. I was disturbed. I was bothered. But then I learned to ask why. "Why are you disturbed, Peter? Why are you bothered when somebody criticizes you"?
As I ask myself the why, I began to discover many times it's because of my pride. You see pride will cause us to become defensive. Pride will cause us to be angry. And then the Lord will talk to me. The Lord said, "Peter, humble yourself". The truth is this: when people criticize you and it is not true, you surrender it to God. And if it is not true, it's a warning. They see that you are this, even though you are not. So it's a warning. So whatever it is, criticism can become a blessing because you process it. Many times I'm tempted to attack the person. I'm tempted to say, "Why don't you talk to me straight? Why do you have to talk to other people"?
The moment I do that, I am deviating from the issue. The issue is about me. So learn to talk to yourself, learn to talk to your heart. Ask yourself the following questions: Why? Why do you feel this way? Emotion is the window of our soul. It reveals to us what's going on. Are you aware that your spiritual health and your emotional health are interrelated? Many times people don't understand what is spiritual maturity. They think of spiritual maturity as Bible study, head knowledge. I now submit to you: spiritual maturity has everything to do with emotional maturity. Imagine a Bible teacher. He knows a lot. But then when he is criticized, he loses his temper. He throws a tantrum. He reacts. Is that person spiritually mature or not? Spiritual maturity is the ability to manage and control your emotions.
And that's why this topic is important. You need to understand what is causing the trigger. Why are you always angry? Why are you always worried? And as you go deeper and deeper, you will go to the root problem. And before you know it, God will speak through your heart, through His word, and you will learn to listen. Next: recalibrate. Recalibrate means what? You have to renew your thinking. It is so powerful, because what a man thinks in his heart, so is he. That's what the Bible is saying. What you think will impact your emotion, it will impact your action. But the battle is in the mind. What do I mean? Let's look at the Bible. Paul is now talking about the reality of spiritual warfare. "We do not war", the word "war" is what? A reality of battle. There's a battle going on right now. There's a war ongoing right now, which your eyes don't see.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to listen very well. Right now at this very moment, there is a war going on in your mind. It's called spiritual warfare. He is saying. Recalibrate the mind, why? He is saying, "we are taking every thought". Are you aware of what you are thinking? Do not let your mind tell you what to think. You must tell your mind what to think. You must learn to control the thought life. Meaning don't allow Satan to plant thoughts in your mind. "We are taking every thought captive", notice: every thought. Let me give an example. Many times, thoughts enter our mind, and if you are not careful, they impact your emotions.
I remember years ago, after the massive earthquake that devastated Baguio City, I thought one of my friends died. The truth is my friend did not die, but in my mind, they died. What is not true became true for me; the power of thinking. And because I thought they died, it affected me emotionally. What's my point? Many times you become victims of what Satan wants you to think. You cannot overcome your toxic emotions unless you recalibrate your thinking. Romans 12:2: Do not allow yourselves to be influenced by the values of the world. Do not be conformed by the world, by others. "Be transformed": that is a command. It is in the present tense. How are you transformed? What's amazing: the grammar here is in the passive voice. In other words, to be transformed, you have to allow yourselves to be transformed. It is not in the active voice, it's passive. Allow yourselves to be transformed by "the renewing of your mind".
The verb here is in the active voice. You will now assume responsibility for the renewing of your mind. And how do you renew your mind? You have to examine and recalibrate your thinking. Are they biblical? Are they truth? Or are they worldly values? Are they your opinion? You have to recalibrate your thinking through God's word, because truth is crucial in thinking. Wrong thinking produces what? Wrong emotions. And many people are worried. They are always nervous. Why? Because of wrong thinking. I guarantee you, if you think negatively, if you always think of problems, if you think of what may happen, if you think of what will happen to your children, if you think of what will happen to you tomorrow, and it's all negative, guaranteed, you become nervous, you become anxious. The key to transformation is the renewing of your mind. That's why the apostle Paul says we need to take captive.
Notice the grammar, "take captive every thought". You cannot allow your mind to become lazy. Do you all recall the TEA principle? T-E-A. Thinking is going to affect your emotion and your emotion will affect your action. That is why you need to recalibrate your thinking properly. If you allow the devil to say, "You will always be a failure because in your past, your parents said you are a failure", if you allow those thoughts to enter your mind, you'll be thinking you will never succeed. If you believe in the lies of Satan that God does not have your best interest at heart, you are worried about marriage, you are worried about your career, if you begin worrying about these things, guess what will happen?
You will now interpret everything that happens to you as something negative. You will never consider that disappointments can be God's way of protecting you, God's way of blessing you. So be careful how you think. Wrong thinking is going to produce wrong emotion, and wrong emotion will produce wrong action. In 2 Samuel 10, the Bible tells us So here is the background of the story. King David wanted to console the son of the king of Ammonites because the king, the father died, and the son Hanun became king. So what was David's motive? David said in verse two, David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. I want you to notice something.
In this story, the motive of David was very good. The motive of David was to console, You know in Filipino, we have this culture. When somebody dies, you want to drop by, you want to console them, you want to give your condolence, you want to comfort. That's exactly what David did. He sent a delegation, but what happened? Instead of accepting the consolation, the love and the kindness of David, the Bible tells us something happened. Notice that phrase: look at the next verse, In short, they planted evil thoughts in the mind of the son, but the son did not evaluate the thoughts. The son did not put it in a suspense file. He did not ask questions. He jumped to the conclusion.
What was the conclusion? What did Hanun do? In short, what did Hanun do? Hanun embarrassed the representatives of David. He insulted them. And guess what happened after this? That's the problem: wrong thinking will lead into wrong conclusion, wrong emotion, wrong action. Will you believe it? A war followed after this event. Imagine a useless war that was caused by vain imagination. The Bible is very clear. The Bible tells us You need to recalibrate your mind. Stop judging. Stop being critical.
Look at verse 6, In other words, this is called confirmation bias. If you think somebody does not like you, that's in your mind, you are judging the person. Every action that he will do, you can interpret it as what? Not being nice to you. Even if he smiles at you, you'll be thinking, "Look at his smile. He's sneering at me". Wrong thinking will lead to wrong emotion, and it will lead to wrong action. Can you imagine? Because of vain imagination, because of wrong thinking, a war broke out unnecessarily and over 40,000 people died. What a tragedy. And this is what happens when you do not guard your thinking, you don't recalibrate your thinking.
It will cost a lot of damage. In my case, I've learned to have a suspense file. If I don't understand something, I cannot figure it out, I don't jump to conclusions. I have learned, and I refuse to jump to conclusions. I have to check. Is this true? Is this not true? Personally, there are times when I am tempted to jump to wrong conclusions. I remember calling somebody over the cellphone and the person did not reply. I was beginning to think, "Is the person angry at me"? But praise God. I decided not to jump to conclusions. When I met the person, I asked him. I said, "Did you receive my texts? Did you receive my phone call? I have not been getting any feedback from you. Is there a problem"? And he looked at me with a strange face. He said, "When did you text me? When did you call me"?
I gave him the date of the phone call. And then he looked at his cellphone. Would you believe it? There was no record. Now how did that happen? Honestly, I don't know many things in the Philippines and I don't have to figure out everything, but one thing I know: guard your thought life. Recalibrate. And when it is not biblical, you reject it. But you've got to recalibrate. You have to renew your mind based on what the Bible is saying. Be responsible for what you think. I remember years ago, my wife was telling my son, "You are making me angry". And my son told my wife, "Mom, you taught me: nobody can make you angry. You choose to be angry, Mom. Nobody can make you irritable. You choose to be irritable".
How true it is. For me during this pandemic, I have a choice. I can count the blessing. I can focus on the truth about God and entrust the situation to the Lord and I can learn to relax, or I can be worried. I can focus on what may happen tomorrow. I can focus on all the possibilities of what may go wrong. Let me share with you the true story of Victor Frankl. Viktor Frankl was a doctor, he was a psychiatrist. He married a Christian girl, but he was Jewish. When he was put in prison during the Nazi occupation, his entire family were also placed in the camp. He lost his father, he lost his mother in the death camp. He lost his wife, he lost his daughter.
In short, this guy has every reason to be angry, he has every reason to be worried about his life. He was tortured, humiliated, maltreated, and yet he was able to survive. According to him, he discovered that the last human freedom that nobody can take away from you is the freedom to choose your attitude. This is what he said: "To choose one's attitude on any given set of circumstances, to choose one's way of responding is the freedom that nobody can take away from you". And you know what he did? He chose to have the right attitude. He did not allow his enemies to make him the victim. The lesson here is very simple. According to another author, Chuck Swindoll, he said, "Life is about 10% what happens to you, 90% is your choice".
What he's saying is this: you and I don't have to become a victim of our circumstances or of our environment. You don't have to be a victim of your past. You have the power to choose. And that power for me is a gift from God. And that's why God wants us to recalibrate our mind. And lastly, just like the psalmist is saying, you have to recognize God in your life. It's one thing to believe in God, it's another thing to trust God. It's one thing to believe that God exists, but it is another thing to practice to recognize His presence. What does it mean to recognize God? To recognize God is simply this: I do my best with what is within my control and what is outside of my control, I surrender that to God.
What does it mean to recognize God? To recognize God means I accept my limitation. I cannot control everything. I cannot change people. Accept your limitation. Assume responsibility for what is within your control. After doing your best, surrender everything else to the Lord. Trust Him. If you keep trying to control others, if you keep trying to control how they should react, how they should respond, you will become a nervous wreck. You will be a difficult person to live with. You will always be angry and above all, you will always be anxious and worried and you'll become toxic. And that my friend is the meaning of toxic emotion. You hurt others by the way you respond. Learn to rest in the Lord. Learn to entrust to Him that things that worry you. Entrust to Him your loved ones, your family members, including your past, that He will do something supernatural to make it better.
But you've got to do your part. Pray, give thanks, and rest. And that is exactly what the psalmist discovered. The psalmist recognized the solution is ultimately God. "Hope in God, I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence". What does it mean to hope in God? The author is now realizing at the end of the day, it is God. To hope in God comes from that word "to wait expectantly". It comes from the word "to trust, to believe". So to hope in God is to recognize that God is bigger than your problem. God is bigger than my worries. God is bigger than my anxieties, because you are able to recalibrate your mind. You are able to realize who God is, then you can thank Him in advance. "For I shall again praise Him, the help of His presence".
What do you notice? His problem is still the same. Instead of becoming disturbed, is instead of becoming depressed, look at his emotion. It's now positive: hope in God. By recalibrating the mind, by knowing it is God that's bigger than my problem, "I shall again praise Him". It's putting your confidence that God is able to solve our problem. "For the help of his presence", it is trusting that ultimately, God will pull through. What does it mean to recognize God? To recognize God is to apply Philippians 4:6-7. The Bible tells us, This is a command. Don't worry. It's in the present tense. Stop being anxious daily. Stop. You have to remind yourself. This is a present tense command. Every time I worry, I remind myself, "Peter, it's time to recognize God. It's time to pray". And that's what the Bible is saying. "But in everything,", especially when you worry, "by prayer, supplication,", notice, different words for prayer, "with thanksgiving".
My friend, God is telling us, "I am here. Tell me your problem". Notice: "Let your requests be made known to God". So I'm sharing with all of you as you learn to recalibrate your mind, as you learn to go deeper to your problem, at the end of the day, the final solution is none other than God. Here is the formula of dealing with anxiety: recognize God. When you recognize God, what do you do? You pray. When you recognize God, you learn to give thanks. Are you thankful? Do you give thanks? The Bible says, "in everything give thanks". People who don't know how to give thanks are always worried. They're always anxious. Can I tell you something? When you learn to give thanks in advance, just like what the Bible is telling us, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer with thanksgiving, what is the promise of God? He says, "and the peace of God", notice, His peace, "which surpasses all comprehension", it will surpass your thinking, it will guard, it will protect your hearts. It will protect your minds in Christ Jesus.
Many years ago, I attended a leadership training in Arrowhead Springs, California. In that training I heard the story of Dr. Bill Bright. He talked about a staff member whose fiancé died the day before the wedding. She felt so bad. She could not sleep. She tried medication, she tried counseling, she took pills, but she, she was a wreck. Then she went to see Dr. Bill Bright. And Dr. Bill Bright asked her in love and compassion, "Have you ever thanked the Lord for what happened to your fiancé"? You can imagine the reaction of this girl. She said, "How can I thank the Lord? He was supposed to be my husband and God took him away". Dr. Bright said, "Well, the Bible says in everything, give thanks. This is God's will for you in Christ jesus. Have you ever thanked the Lord"?
To make the long story short. This girl cried in tears. And then she thanked the Lord. The next day she called up Bill Bright immediately. She said, "Sir, for the first time I slept like a baby. I have perfect peace". What's the lesson? God promised us if we recognize Him, if we entrust our dilemmas, our worries to Him, He tells us the peace of God will protect us. The moment you thank God you are saying, "Lord, I trust You". The moment you thank God you are saying, "Lord, I don't understand why this thing happened to me, but I thank You. I know You have the best plan for my life".
To recognize God is to realize that God is in control. That's why Romans 8:28 is foundational. Romans 8:28 tells us, This has impacted my life. I'm learning that including my past, including my mistakes, including what others have done, God can cause it to work together for good. And that can only happen if I surrender my past. Psalm 138:8, it says, "God will accomplish all things that concerns me". What an assurance! Now, when you surrender your life to God, He is going to accomplish all things concerning you, including how long you will live, including who you will marry, including the problems you are facing now. But the only way to overcome fear and anxiety is to recognize God, trust Him. Let's hear the testimony of the power of trusting God when it comes to overcoming sadness, loneliness.
Let's hear our friend, Mr. Henry Sy Jr. While many people celebrated after watching While many people celebrated after watching you in your testimony in church, how you found Christ, is, I would have to say a few months after, is your daughter passed away. Yes. How are you today? How are you today, Big Boy? It's of course the saddest and the most painful thing that ever happened in my life. And right before it happened, we were, every day we enjoy being close to my daughter and my wife, family, and life's a blessing, but we took everything for granted. All of a sudden everything changed with the unexpected departure of my dear daughter, Jan and left me thinking, "What is life all about"?
Death will come sooner or later to anybody and all your loved ones. And sorrow will surely be with us when it comes. This made me think: if there's no living hope in Jesus, life is entirely meaningless. Did you ask God, "Why? Why, Lord? Why"? Well, yes. In a way, yes, but I was praying more for a miracle to happen. And because I read also in the Bible in the book of Job, the Lord, He gives and He takes, and blessed be His name. So I just stick to that. But you never, Big Boy, went through a period of blaming the Lord? No, I did not feel that, because I trust in the Lord completely and "lean not on your own understanding". How did you do that? Just trust in the Lord. You know, it was really so painful and it made us cry and cry, and even up to now, but we just completely trust in the Lord. Just hold our, each other's hand and trust in the Lord. Wow.
Did you go through a period of self-blame? No, because I trust that the Lord has the best, He has the best intention for all of this. Even if it's to take away, I'm sure there's a good reason for that, like in Isaiah 57. It is written that He protects His flocks. Big Boy, if you did not know Christ, do you believe you'd be able to handle this? No. I think I would be a total wreck by now because we were so close. What do you miss most about her? Is it the conversations? Was she a Christian also? She was very firmly with the Lord and maybe the Lord wants her to be home already. You know, these are things that we call sorrowful joy. We feel very sorrowful about her departure, missing her so much, but the joy is that we know exactly where she is today: with the Lord, with Jesus Christ, in heaven. And that is the joy.
And then someday, I know that we'll all be reunited together. So there's sorrow but then there's a joy in life. I mean, those words: sorrowful joy. They're so opposite. It's either they feel sorrow or they feel joy; but sorrowful joy is uniquely felt by someone who clearly has hope, faith, that even if you don't see where they are, you know that they're in a better place. That's what we call the living hope, and because Christ has resurrected and we will be resurrected also someday. You will notice how Mr. Sy processed the death of his daughter, how he processed his disappointments. The truth is he knows that God knows everything, that God wants what's best for us, and that God loves Him, God loves His family, and God knows what is best. God's time is best.
And that's the meaning of trusting God. Brothers and sisters, emotion is a gift from God. Make emotions your friend. Realize we all struggle with this. Until you realize, until you humble yourself, until you are ready to admit that there's an issue you need to deal with, how can you improve? After realizing you have an issue, then you must go to the root problem. Ask why. What is the root cause? If you keep blaming others, you will never improve. Go to the root problem. And what will you discover? You have to recalibrate your thinking. You must assume responsibility for wrong thinking, because it is wrong thinking that will impact your emotions, and your emotions will impact your actions.
And lastly, the solution is to recognize God. It's to realize God is bigger than your problem. You need to let go, let God. So my lesson is this: to recognize God is to be responsible for what is within my responsibility, what I can control. In fact, in this COVID-19 pandemic, may I remind you: you cannot control tomorrow. You cannot control what the government will do. However, you do what is within your control. Be careful. Be healthy. Exercise. There are many practical ways to deal with anxiety and worry. But can I tell you something? In my own ministry, in my experience with thousands of people, for many years I've noticed God's solution is the best. It is not taking pills, it is not taking the medication, again, I'm not saying don't take pills, don't take medication, but I'm saying most of our emotional problems are connected with spiritual problems.
Learn to solve your problem spiritually. How? Recognize who God is. When you realize who God is, you will learn to trust Him. You'll be amazed at what would happen to your temper, what will happen to your emotions, what will happen to your worries. If you are still struggling with worry, with anxieties, I'd like to help you. Perhaps you have not realized you need help. Perhaps you have not gone to the root problem, or perhaps your mind has to be recalibrated with truth, or the most important: you have not recognized only God can solve your problem. Only God is bigger than your problem. So I'd like us to pray together, by surrendering your life to God. Let's pray:
Father in heaven, I come before You recognizing that I do struggle with anxiety, with worries. Today, I surrender to You all my worries, all my anxieties. I surrender to You my life, my future. I know You love me. I know that nothing is impossible with You. I know You know what's best, so I give You my life. I invite You today, Lord Jesus, to come into my life as my Lord and my Savior. I accept Your gift of forgiveness. I accept Your gift of eternal life. Change my heart. I accept Your peace, knowing that You are in control. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. And amen.