New to all of this

Hi everyone,

I feel very happy and relieved to have found this group. I've suffered with anxiety since I was in 4th grade. I have been diagnosed with panic disorder/agoraphobia, avoidant personality disorder and social anxiety. I know that sounds like a lot of issues, but I know God can get me through it.

I've never really been a religious person, althoug I was baptised as a Lutheran when I was 16, I never really made an attempt to connect with God on a spiritual level. I was never quite sure what to believe. Now I am willing and ready to accept Jesus into my life and to let him guide me through the good times and bad and to help me find the power to do the right things.

I often find myself in a constant state of anxiety, always fearing that a panic attack will take me over in certain situations. I work as a security guard checking in semi trucks, and I have to walk to the back of the trucks to check the seal and sometimes I get so anxious that my head swims I get dizzy and I'm certain I'm going to fall over. I know it's the fear that someone's watching me and noticing that I'm looking "crazy" and sometimes I can barely get through the work day. When my anxious thoughts start they just progress and so many thoughts are running through my mind that I can't focus on something positive to slow my head down.

I also fear going into stores, waiting in checkout lines and riding in cars, particularly as a passenger...I hate all situations where I feel "out of control."

I'll be interviewing and possibly training for a new job soon and of course I'm scared that I'll "fall apart" during the interview or training period, it's for a postal carrier position, and I'm assuming I'll have to ride as a passenger with someone else driving....and I have become so nervous about this scenario that just thinking about it has made my head swim.

So just a little about my problems and why I've come here. I'm greatly looking for solace in Jesus and hopefully I can find it in this group as well, as it seems like a loving and supportive place.

I'm looking forward to talking to all of you.

Hello Shellsy,

Welcome to the site. I’m glad to hear that you are willing and ready to accept Jesus into your life for guidance and power. I believe one reason God allows anxiety into the life of the believer is to bring us to our knees, turn to Him and come out strengthened and more refined than ever before. Anxiety breaks down our will and pride. It opens our eyes to the fact that we need God. It puts us into a position where we realize that ONLY God can get us through what we are going through. When we are at that point when the totality of our reliance is on Him, then we are ripe and prime to be powerfully used by Him. And we are ripe and prime to see Him. Then His blessings freely fall upon us and we become more powerful than we were before our experience with anxiety because now we are not living life in our own strength, but in God’s strength. The more we give up the will and strength of the flesh, the more the Spirit has room to take over in our minds and bodies. When we say we (the flesh) can’t do it, then God gives us His strength to enable us to do all things. Jesus says in Luke 18:27, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

One thing I have come to learn about anxiety is that all of its thoughts are lies. I want you to think about each of those thoughts, analyze them, and you’ll discover that they are all lies. The bible says that Satan is the father of lies. Those thoughts are not from God, and they are not from you because you are a new creation in Christ, created to be like Jesus. You have been changed, made holy, and filled with peace and power when you accepted Jesus into your life. But the flesh (which is not you—you reside in the flesh) is still filled with sin and harbors anxiety and all of those lies. You are your spirit, not your flesh. When you die, you drop your flesh (or body) and continue to exist because you are your spirit. God empowered you (your spirit) in Christ. And that’s the truth. What we need to focus on is the truth and discard all lies. As I said, lies are demonic, and lies are of the flesh as well. You, your spirit, are of the Spirit.

So what you need to do is to pray to God in Jesus’ name that He opens your eyes to all lies. Pray that He empowers you to accept truth and not lies. Pray that He takes all power out of the lie. What we must realize is that in essence, if it is a lie then it does not exist. It may seem real in our minds because it makes us react a certain way and we can feel it acting upon us, but regardless of how it makes us feel, because the thought originated from a lie, it therefore does not exist. Pray that God fills you with the truth of His Word, which is peace. I pray you get well.

Statesman63

Thank you Statesman, it's so kind of you to give of yourself to help others. I'm definitely working on learning to pray. I will definitely take your advice to pray to God, to help me see the truth. It feels so good to finally let the Lord in and to unburden some of this load I've been carrying a while. I know I can find strength through him. Thank you for your kind words.

Shellsy