Anxiety is an appropriate feeling when we encounter situations—known or as yet unknown—that seem impossible to endure. The counselors point to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. As He considered the cross, He agonized. Yet Jesus’ anxiety never controlled His actions.

Our anxiety invites us to recognize our need for Jesus, who knows all things and cares for all things, and to follow His ways, even when our anxiety says to do the opposite.

We should confess our anxious thoughts to one another and pray for one another. Sharing our fears and worries diminishes their power over us. We begin to bear each other’s burdens by proclaiming the truth: God is not absent from our life’s equations, but present in all of them. 

Episode Transcript

Presented by The Austin Stone Institute and Austin Stone Counseling

Recommended Resources

Episode Resources from The Austin Stone Institute
Untangling Emotions, by J. Alasdair Groves and Winston T. Smith
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, by Mark Vroegop
Depression: Looking Up From the Stubborn Darkness, by Edward T. Welch

Podcast Production Team

Producer & Host: Lindsay Funkhouser
Content Experts: Shanda Anderson, LPC-S; Brittany Beltran, LPC; Andrew Dealy, LPC
Technical Producer: Aaron Campbell
Podcast Art: Stephen Mancha
Podcast Music: Matt Graham
Liturgy Writer: Michaela Barriga
Liturgy Reader: Alex Espinoza
Groups Guide Writer: Erin Feldman