Fearless Future: Face the Unknown Without Anxiety

Scriptures: 1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 11:28-29, 2 Timothy 1:7

My phone buzzed around 4AM. I reached for it on the tray attached to my hospital bed. My newborn lay asleep in his clear bassinet at my side, but the text from my sister sounded an alarm. I woke my husband from the hospital couch. Our older son at home was having trouble breathing. A few hours later, my family had taken up residence in two separate hospitals. 

I know what fear feels like.

I’m well-acquainted with anxiety too. It’s helpful to know the difference. 

Since fear and anxiety feel similar in our thoughts, emotions, and physically in our bodies, here’s how I’ve come to recognize them. 

For FEAR: think definite, known, present threat. 

You sense (hear, see, touch, etc.) danger and your body naturally goes into stress responses (fight, flight, freeze, or fawn) to help you survive. 

For ANXIETY: think unclear, unknown, future worry. 

You can carry unfocused stress about potential pain, but you can have real anxiety over imaginary concerns. By anticipating ambiguous dangers you’ll feel less capable of handling the circumstances you face. As preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.”

Sitting in my hospital room six years ago, I wrestled with both. I feared for my toddler’s life as he struggled to breathe; I was helpless to help him. I was anxious about how the nurses would care for him—mind you, the well-trained nurses at a pediatric hospital. And I was anxious about whether he was anxious because I wasn’t with him. 

I had good reason to feel this way. These unfamiliar circumstances were scary and far from ideal. 

I also had good reason NOT to feel this way. The Sovereign Creator King of the Universe God cares for me and for my family even more than I do. 

I’d already read and memorized verses that told me not to be afraid. But knowing I shouldn’t fear typically does very little to help me actually kick fear or anxiety out of my life. My failures just add guilt or shame to my pain. 

That wasn’t the first, or last time, these bullies messed with me. If you’re there too, with fear pressing down on your chest and anxiety’s shadows playing tricks on you from down the hall, I’ll tell you what I did. I hope it helps you too. 

I named things for what they were, which helped put them in their rightful place. 

• What’s happening right now is ____. And I’m fearful about it because ____. 
• I’m nervous about the possibility of this in the future… oh, that’s anxiety. 
• When I spiraled into doomsday worst-possible-thoughts-imaginable, I acknowledged fears that didn’t make sense. Saying them out loud helped me see how empty those worries actually were. 
• I did what I could do. Which in this case meant relying on trustworthy professionals to do their jobs and on my loved ones for support and prayer. 
• I brought everything, repeatedly, and threw them at the feet of Jesus. 

This last part takes practice, and I discovered a secret about fear that has helped me walk in greater freedom now for years. I’m helping you with both of those next.

Please Note: Seek support from trusted professionals if you need help to break free from chronic fear or anxiety. You don’t have to go this alone. Personally, working with a good Christian counselor has helped me walk in a lot of freedom and healing.

Scriptures: Proverbs 31:25, Proverbs 31:30, Isaiah 41:10, Joshua 1:9, Psalms 104:1, Psalms 96:6

Have you ever felt beat up by a Bible verse? 

Or know you have a huge wound in your heart but someone hands you a finger-sized Band-Aid in the shape of a passage of scripture that’s supposed to make it all better? 

I’m sorry that happened to you. Same here. 

And honestly, I’ve inflicted those injuries on myself and others too. 

Fear and anxiety got the best of me for years. I felt horrible about it. I thought that if I somehow tried harder, or better prepared for all outcomes, then I wouldn’t get so stressed. Like somehow, I could work myself out of being worried. 

Proverbs 31 was one passage that gave me trouble. Talk about hard work! I read it like a task-list that I could never live up to. 

This woman never slept. She imported her own food, planted vineyards, sewed sustainable fashion, ran a business, farmed, owned land, served the poor and her family with wisdom. And don’t forget Proverbs 31:25. 

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. (Proverbs 31:25 NLT) 

I don’t know a single human who can work their way into achieving that one. 

No fear, not even the hidden stuffed-deep-down kind. Wearing strength and dignity like clothing. 

But Proverbs 31:10-31 isn’t a job description. It’s a commendation for women as a Hebrew acrostic poem. In Jewish tradition, a husband would sing this poem to honor his wife’s hard work and noble deeds in front of their children. Because “a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.” (Proverbs 31:30b) 

Did you catch the connection between these verses? 

The one who fears the Lord can laugh without fear of the future. As if one type of fear replaces the other. 

Evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers said, “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” 

One who fears the Lord reveres Him, seeks to please Him, and worships Him in awe and adoration. Fear of the Lord requires that we recognize God is not like us. He and His goodness are all together better. 

Slapping a “believers don’t fear for the future” Band-Aid on my worry never helped. Just like ignoring my anxiety or trying to do more things for God never increased my awe or adoration of Him. 

Believe me, I tried. When tiring myself out with hard work or worry, the most I could achieve on my own was just another form of anxiety—worrying about if God was satisfied enough with my performance. 

But you know what grows my fear of God, in that way where I fear less of everything else? 

Being aware of who He is. Noticing His presence here with me. 

I think that’s what well-meaning friends are trying to do when offering Bible verses. But God offers us more than simply passing around His promises like temporary bandages. We need to experience the truth of His Word, as our living and active God meets with us in the midst of our dark circumstances and most hurtful fears. 

We don’t live unafraid because a verse told us to.

We live unafraid when we trust and experience how God truly is there with us—just like He says He is.

Those fears you have…the news that makes you want to throw up…the thoughts that keep you awake at night…Share these with God. Don’t avoid or ignore them. Tell God about them. Show Him what hurts. Let God in. Ask Him to show you how He’s there with you. 

This remarkable lack of fear, the kind that allows you to laugh at the unknowns of your future, comes from more intimately knowing the God who is there with you.

He goes before you, is behind you, and surrounds you with His presence. And the clothing of strength and dignity that He offers you to wear? Those are found in His presence too. 

Maybe this sounds too easy to be real in your painful circumstances. But I promise it’s true. 

Tomorrow, I’ll show you how God met the Israelites in their painful season with a promise that still offers hope to us today. The Bible passage I’m referencing is often misunderstood, so you won’t want to miss it!

Scriptures: Jeremiah 29:1, Jeremiah 29:4-7, Jeremiah 29:10-14, Isaiah 40:28

“If you think I can live without fear of the future, then you obviously don’t know the future I’m facing!” – Anonymous Reader

I’ve felt that way before. 

Also, you’re right. I don’t know your future. But let’s spend some time looking at it from God’s point of view, beginning with one of the most quoted verses from Scripture. 

In our modern day, Jeremiah 29:11 is printed on coffee mugs, t-shirts, journals, and throw pillows. This fantastic promise offers us wonderful insights about God. 

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) 

But what are you supposed to do if:

• Your future doesn’t look so good? 
• Your child is in a hospital? 
• You’re grieving the loss of a loved one? 
• You lose your job? 
• Untrustworthy world leaders are in power? 
• Future changes exist entirely outside of your control? 
• Everything feels uncertain and unsafe? 

If your future looks bleak, Jeremiah 29:11 is for YOU! 

The original recipients of this letter can certainly relate to worst-case circumstances. Jeremiah sent this promise to survivors exiled in Babylon. 

The Israelites had broken their covenant with God, their leaders were corrupt, and their communities were rampant with social injustice. When their enemy conquered them, those who survived were forcibly ripped from their homes and taken captive. It’s to these survivors that Jeremiah wrote his letter, telling them they’ll be trapped in this undesirable circumstance for 70 years. 

God instructs them to create lives there, in the place none of them want to be. To plant gardens and build homes. To grow their families, which means to hold big celebrations. To seek the good of a city that’s not their own, and pray for it, because they all can prosper there. 

Why?
Because God will fulfill His promise to them.
Because God knows the good plans He has for their future.
Because when they seek God, even though they’d previously turned away, they will find Him again.

When I think about how God planned for their good future decades in advance, I feel comforted and conflicted at the same time. 

It can feel encouraging to know that God doesn’t quit or tire out. His plans are not shortsighted. 

It can be comforting even in our unwanted circumstances, to see how God instructed them to multiply and be fruitful in theirs. 

He gave them peace to calm down and simply be in the place that they were. They didn’t have to wait for God’s goodness or provision until after they left that hard place. God cared for them even there. 

Yet I feel conflicted and angsty when our God who is outside of time still allows things to take so long. He took care of them the whole time and yet, in their long waiting, generations married and had children before they returned to the promised land. 

God created us able to hold conflicting feelings at the same time. That’s part of why it’s possible to experience joy and peace in a place you don’t want to be. 

I found that out right there in that hospital room, and in many other tough rooms since then. But a moment without fear isn’t the same as living each day without it. 

Let this letter to the exiles in Jeremiah offer you a different perspective about your future. No matter where you are, no matter what season you’re in, God plans for your good. Get ready for a bigger, brighter, lighter future, with practical steps coming your way in this plan tomorrow.

Scriptures: Psalms 139:23-24, Psalms 3:3, 2 Chronicles 20:12, Psalms 16:7-11

Both of my sons and I were released from the hospital on the same day.

Our oldest had survived his first asthma attack, but that was far from our last hospital visit. Seven days later I was back in the hospital with life-threatening postpartum complications. And since then, our son’s breathing problems have sent us back to the emergency room at least a half dozen times.

When ongoing scares become familiar, how do you live without fear of the future?

Or even harder, how do you find joy in a season this scary?

I’ll tell you what doesn’t work, from my own experiences:

• Pretending your feelings don’t exist.
• Striving to work up more faith.
• Trying to control every outcome.

Here are some things I’ve found that do:

Plant Your Feet

By this I mean, be where you are. Don’t panic. If you feel overwhelmed, try to stay present with what’s actually going on around you. What do you know? Where are you now? What do you need to do? If you’re not familiar with the therapy term “grounding,” I encourage you to google it when you’re done with this plan. It’s a technique I learned from my counselor of using your five senses with purposeful breathing to help you physically calm down. My first step is always placing my feet firmly on the ground.

Pay Attention to Your Heart and Mind

Fear and anxiety leave us stressed and spiraling about things “out there.” What others are doing, what dangers may come, what isn’t what it should be, what could end up worse than we feared. Look “in here” to notice what’s going on in your heart and mind. Is that fear? How are you responding? Is that anxiety? Why is it there?

Now that you’ve noticed, the next steps help you do something about it:

Lift Up Your Eyes

Lift your focus up from what troubles you. Look beyond the things that are outside of your control. Ask God to show you how He is there with you, so you don’t have to be afraid. By reading on the Bible app today you’re taking steps in His direction.

Ask God to help you trust Him, to see more of how He is at work in you and around you. Trade in that lesser painful fear for the greater worshipful kind, as you notice in awe and wonder how your loving God cares for you. That’s where joy will start bubbling up in you, happiness and contentment independent of any circumstance—because God is with you.

Ask God What To Do

When fear and anxiety rule, we play their game. We listen to them and do what they say. Our agreement and alignment with their negative outlook gives them free rein to mess with us.

We get to agree with God and align our thoughts and actions with what He says instead. That doesn’t mean He will always say or do what we want. But He will guide us in truth, and He’ll never abandon us to fend for things on our own.

You know what I find interesting? Proverbs, including Proverbs 31, was written before Jeremiah.

In an unwanted situation, in chaos that massively disrupted every part of their lives and families, God’s people already had an easy-to-memorize acrostic poem reminder that they could laugh without fear of their future. And while in their hardship, God promised that He had good plans for what lay ahead.

I pray that this small Bible plan offers you the same, and it’s been an honor to serve you these past few days.