A Unique Way to Overcome Anxious Thoughts

Do you struggle with anxiety even when you are trying to count your blessings? Anxiety can be a pest, and I know you may be pestered by it even when you are trying to conquer it. Here’s a unique way I overcome anxious thoughts.

Prefer to listen? Here’s the podcast episode:

Cast Your Anxiety on God

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 NIV

As a child, I was known as a worry wort. I suppose that’s typical of many type-A firstborns.

I recorded worries and fears in my journals: staying home alone, the start of a new school year, and all kinds of concerns about my divorced parents.

At bedtime, Mom advised me to give my worries to Jesus, imagining he would gather them in a huge sack and throw them into the ocean. This was the reverse of my picture of Santa Claus. Jesus would carry a sack of worries instead of toys.

I took small comfort in her words, then proceeded to worry after she turned off the light.

In the dark, I wondered, “Does God really care about what’s in that sack? What happens to my worries at the bottom of the ocean? Do they stay there like a shipwreck, or do they dissolve in the water?” My childhood concrete thinking couldn’t handle the spiritual metaphor.

Calm Your Anxious Heart

As I’ve grown in faith, I’ve learned to conquer my worry habit through Bible study, prayer and Christian meditation. One particular book helped me the most. It’s Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow.

Sometimes I still need help calming down before sleep, just as I did as a child. I found a mental image that works even better than the sack: Jesus with a shredder.

I’m highly visual, so this picture of Jesus allows me to mentally cast all my anxiety on him. When I can’t sleep, it’s usually because I’m overwhelmed with mental pictures from my day. While I meditate on 1 Peter 5:7, I envision myself handing each difficult image over to Jesus who shreds them in a heavenly shredder. I give them over to him so I can rest peacefully, knowing he cares for me and that he’s in charge.

Christian Meditation to Overcome Anxious Thoughts

I really like one of God’s names that Linda Dillow uses: The Blessed Controller. Each time I surrender a worry over to The Blessed Controller, my faith grows. I can then meditate on a verse Mom told me many times: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10 NIV) after all those images are shredded.

You can use Christian meditation to overcome anxiety, and when you pair a mental image with it, the verse gains even more power. Which verse helps you handle anxiety? Will you identify an image that corresponds to it, and then envision the image when you meditate on that verse? I’d love to hear which verses and images help you most when you need to overcome anxiety.

Here’s a prayer to encourage you:

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the gift of a new year.
May this new year be a time when I can choose to trust you more.
Lord, I cast my anxieties on you today.
I believe that you are strong, wise, and capable to handle them.
Help me choose a verse and image I can use to help me cast my anxieties on you.
I know that if I do this every day, every week, and every month this year, my faith in you will grow.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

If this post ministered to you, I’d love to hear from you and pray for you. You can use my contact page to request prayer from me, which is always kept confidential.

If you liked this post, I would appreciate your shares on social media!

This post may be linked up at these linkups.

If you make a purchase through the provided links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance for supporting my writing ministry!

My weekly newsletter Tea on Tuesdays is delivered at 3:00 p.m. Central time every Tuesday.  I write an exclusive devotion for you each week that I share with you first.

To receive the newsletter, please subscribe below. I can’t wait to share personally with you each week!