Anxiety Prescription

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. Psalm 94: 19

Working as a Medical Transcriptionist, I type a lot of medical reports each day, and it seems the majority of patients are taking something for anxiety-related issues. Based on my own calculations, roughly seven out of every ten reports includes prescriptions for anxiety drugs. I see this trend on a daily basis. I believe these drugs do serve a purpose, and when used properly can provide helpful treatment for patients who truly need them, but not all anxiety needs to be treated with medication. God often uses our anxiety to draw us near to Him. If we are quick to medicate our anxiety, we may never learn what it means to depend on God to meet our needs.

Lately, I've been reminded of the need to seek God during anxious times. I've been experiencing extreme anxiety over the past months that often keeps me awake into the wee hours of the morning. This has been happening more frequently as I enter the "change of life" season. I've been talking with older woman who have gone down that path, and they assure me that anxiety and nervousness escalates due to changes in hormone levels during this season of life. I've always been prone to worry about things, but that was mild compared to this new anxiety I've been feeling.

As I struggled to relax enough to sleep again last night, I opened my Bible to the Psalms and began to read. It was no accident that the first passage my eyes fell upon was Psalm 94: 19. "When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul." I was once again amazed at how God's word is never outdated and how it always provides direction for us through each circumstance we face. Right there in scripture is our anxiety prescription! The Psalms contains some of the most beautiful passages of scripture ever penned, many written from the pens of anxious, depressed, distraught, and fearful psalmists. I wonder if the Psalms would have been written if the Psalmists would have chosen to medicate their anxiety.

When we focus on God's promises and His amazing love for us rather than our fears and insecurities, we find consolation in His truth and we will be filled with peace and joy. That doesn't mean our worries are going to vanish or that we will never experience them again. It simply means that we experience inner joy by accepting our circumstances and trusting God with the outcome. True joy doesn't necessarily mean feeling happy, because happiness is based on happenstance; we are happy only when things around us are going well. Joy is a inner attitude of peace, comfort, and trusting God regardless of what is happening around us.

We live in stressful times and each day we face financial struggles, health issues, difficult job situations, concern over children or grandchildren, fear and uncertainty about the future, etc. These fears and anxieties are real and unpleasant, but there is a prescription that works. When we surrender all of our anxieties to God and trust Him for the outcome, His consolation will bring true joy to our souls.