Tips for Staying Sane in Quarantine

Well, a friend and colleague wrote most of these, but I thought they were good for all of us to read and think about. This is a unique time, we get through it by taking one day at a time, and not letting the "what if''s" get to us.

Tips to stay motivated and in good head space while stuck at home…

1. Make your bed

Sticking to your usual morning routine helps to start the day in a sane way. Especially when you get that fear realization that you are stuck at home, doing what you normally do in the morning helps the brain.

2 .Plan a schedule for the day
Plan out your entire day. A routine will establish normalcy in this not-so normal time. This boosts productivity and sense of purpose.

3. Create a bright environment
Whatever space you work in or hang out the most in…do some redecorating! Good lighting, plants, candles, upbeat music, etc. You want a room that you look forward to being in. Make sure you keep it organized and de-cluttered as well.

4. Water, water, water
Stay hydrated, drink lots of water. Don’t just drink soda pop and coffee all day. Also, try your best to eat healthy and not carb load on junk.

5. Spend time outside
It’s easy to start thinking of the outside world as scary. It’s not. Get outside; walk around your yard, do some planting, go for a walk, go for a car drive (and get Starbucks drive thru). Even if it’s just a few minutes several times a day to be outside, breathe deeply and watch the clouds. You need oxygen! A buildup of carbon dioxide is not good for anxiety. Plus, it’s helpful to remember that life still exists, the world has not ended, and that you are still part of the human race.

6. Movement
Devote specific time in your daily schedule for physical activity. Stream an exercise video, do some yoga, walk up and down stairs, stretch. Get the endorphins flowing! You may not have control over some aspects of this world right now, but you have control over your muscles!

7. Practice mindfulness
Same as physical activity, devote some time every day to practice mindfulness. Keep your mind in the here and now – don’t worry about the future. Meditate, listen to a peaceful podcast or guided mediation, do the Hershey kiss trick, hyper focus on your senses around you, close your eyes and listen to music… BREATHE

8. Attitude check
We are human; you will have wonky emotions, feel overwhelmed. It’s okay to allow yourself a bit of a pity party. Know when you’ve had enough and it’s okay to disengage for a bit. But then give yourself an attitude check. I suggest at least once a day, check your attitude. Notice if your thoughts are positive or negative, notice if your body is relaxed or tense. Don’t beat yourself up for this…just notice it and then put energy into turning the ‘tude around.

9. Joy
This is a unique time, we will be telling stories soon about where we were during this crisis and all be wearing “we survived” t-shirts. Make the most of this!!! Try a project you’ve been meaning to do. Read that book you haven’t had time for. Spend quality/ creative time with your family. Cook and eat meals together. Binge watch movies from the 1980s. Write the next great American novel. The possibilities are endless! Finally, once a day do something joyful. Schedule it into your day. Having something positive and joy filled to look forward to in your day is so so important.

10. Spend time with God    Read the Bible, pray, worship, sit quietly before Him, go out an admire Nature, and BE THANKFUL!

credit given to Melissa Doucette, MA, LMFT

How Shall We Then Pray?

How Shall We Then Pray?

Here are 20 points that can help guide us in our prayers for the situation we are in. Remember

"The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous person has great power in its effects!" (James 5:16)

I came back from Jamaica on Friday the 20th of March and everything had changed! The week before, everyone went to school, work, ate in restaurants, many went to church. Wow, what a drastic and sudden change.

Not since World War II has such a large thing happened to our country. 

God is shaking everything that can be shaken, so that what cannot be shaken might remain... (Heb. 12:26-27)

Coronavirus prayer points

When I was feeling powerless this morning, I read this great prayer list from Jen Pollock Michel and I remembered we have great POWER in prayer and being good neighbors right now! 

1. For the sick and infected: God, heal and help. Sustain bodies and spirits. Contain the spread of infection.

2. For our vulnerable populations: God, protect our elderly and those suffering from chronic disease. Provide for the poor, especially the uninsured.

3. For the young and the strong: God, give them the necessary caution to keep them from unwittingly spreading this disease. Inspire them to help.

4. For our local, state, and federal governments: God, help our elected officials as they allocate the necessary resources for combatting this pandemic. Help them to provide more tests.

5. For our scientific community, leading the charge to understand the disease and communicate its gravity: God, give them knowledge, wisdom, and a persuasive voice.

6. For the media, committed to providing up-to-date information: God, help them to communicate with appropriate seriousness without causing panic.

7. For consumers of media, looking to be well-informed: God, help us find the most helpful local information to equip us to be good neighbors. Keep us from anxiety and panic, and enable us to implement the recommended strategies, even at a cost to ourselves.

8. For those with mental health challenges who feel isolated, anxious, and helpless: God, provide them every necessary support.

9. For the homeless, unable to practice the protocols of social distancing in the shelter system: Protect them from disease, and provide isolation shelters in every city.

10. For international travelers stuck in foreign countries: God, help them return home safely and quickly.

11. For Christian missionaries throughout the world, especially in areas with high rates of infection: God, provide them with words of hope, and equip them to love and serve those around them.

12. For workers in a variety of industries facing layoffs and financial hardship: God, keep them from panic, and inspire your church to generously support them.

13. For families with young children at home for the foreseeable future: God, help mothers and fathers to partner together creatively for the care and flourishing of their children. For single mothers and fathers, grow their networks of support.

14. For parents who cannot stay home from work but must find care for their children: God, present them with creative solutions.

15. For those in need of regular therapies and treatments that must now be postponed: God, help them to stay patient and positive.

16. For business leaders making difficult decisions that affect the lives of their employees: God, give these women and men wisdom, and help them to lead self-sacrificially.

17. For pastors and church leaders faced with the challenges of social distancing: God, help them to creatively imagine how to pastor their congregants and love their cities well.

18. For college and university students, whose courses of study are changing, whose placements are cancelled, whose graduation is uncertain: God, show them that while life is uncertain, their trust is in you.

19. For Christians in every neighborhood, community, and city: May your Holy Spirit inspire us to pray, to give, to love, to serve, and to proclaim the gospel, that the name of Jesus Christ might be glorified around the world.

20. For frontline health care workers, we thank you for their vocational call to serve us. We also pray:

God, keep them safe and healthy. Keep their families safe and healthy- help them to be knowledgeable about the diagnosis and treatment of this disease, as well as the changing protocols.-help them to stay clear-minded in the midst of the surrounding panic -deliver them from anxiety for their own loved ones (aging parents, children, spouses, roommates).

God, give them compassion for every patient in their care- provide for them financially, especially if they fall ill and are unable to work.- help Christians in health care to exhibit extraordinary peace, so that that many would ask about the reason for their hope. Give them opportunities to proclaim the gospel.

God, we trust that you are good and do good. Teach us to be your faithful people in this time of global crisis. Help us to follow in the footsteps of our faithful shepherd, Jesus, who laid down his life for the sake of love. Glorify his name as you equip us with everything needed for doing your will. Amen.

Burnout? Me? Part 4

The final installment in my 4 part series on Burnout. Pastors? Doctors? Counselors? Teachers? Lawyers? Nurses? Caregivers, Missionaries? I hope this has been helpful. At the end I put a poem/hymn that has been really a blessing to me; a copy of it is displayed in each of my offices. Enjoy!

10. Guilt. How do we live in a world where there is such an imbalance of resources? There is great disparity, and we need to come to grips with that in order not to feel guilty.

 One effect of guilt is that it can affect any authentic connection between people. We tend to purposefully diminish ourselves in an unsuccessful attempt to connect with those less fortunate than us. “Why can I buy some new shoes when they don’t even have a house?” we think. Or we downplay that we had a nice, fun weekend, knowing that our clients did not. 

Guilt is one of the strongest signs of trauma response. Yet if we yield to it, it blocks our ability to be present with those who need us. We must overcome this false sense of guilt, and take in the beauty, and fresh sense of rejuvenation around us. We’ll need it to bring some sense of nourishment and care to others. 

Ps 32:10 “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him”

Ps. 31:23 “The Lord preserves the faithful, and faithfully recompenses the proud doer.”

Ps. 84:11 “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

11. Fear. Fear is a natural and healthy response to much of what we witness. But, too often we don’t acknowledge it, because it makes us feel so vulnerable. It may make us uncomfortable to discover that we have much in common with our clients, who are also fearful. 

Do we disconnect from our fear because it reminds us of the fragility of our lives? When we acknowledge our fear, we have the opportunity to deepen our compassion. When we overcome the fear of dying, it helps us embrace the preciousness of life, and live in a more loving way. 

Is 41:9,10 “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, I am with you, do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Ps 34:7 “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.” 

Phil 3:13,14 “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

I Jn. 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”    

12. Anger and Cynicism. Anger is a common feeling that we get when confronted with injustice. But, the majority of people have not been raised with good skills for managing anger. No wonder there are so many anger management classes and groups being offered!

 We need to learn what to do with our anger to be healthy individuals. We need to be comfortable with our anger or our clients will find it impossible to process their anger with us. Cynicism is one way that many people deal with their anger: it’s a sophisticated way of managing it, and often it is witty, quick, sharp, easy to laugh at. 

Yet underneath is bitterness, and that needs to be handled with care.

 Bitterness is the cocaine of emotions. Better to vent, safely express the anger (not hurting anyone), and move on, than sit and hold on the your anger. Find a friend who will listen, not try to fix you, and share what's on your heart.

“Be angry but do not sin, don’t let the sun go down on your anger.”Eph. 4:26

“They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” Ps. 34:5

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one dies for all, therefore all died; and He dies that they who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” II Cor. 5:14,15

This is the poem/hymn that I never get tired of reading: 

He gives more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sends more strength when the labors increase;

To added affliction He adds His mercies,

To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ‘ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He gives and gives and gives again.

                                                        Annie Johnson Flint

Burnout? Me? Part 3

I've only put 3 items at a time on each blog, because 1) busy people don't have time to read much, and 2) it allows it to be "digested" better when there are fewer. 

Again, just about all of us can relate to these somewhat. In this day and age where we move quickly, and don't take time to reflect, to take care of ourselves... PAY ATTENTION! 

7. Inability to Listen/Deliberate Avoidance.  We refuse to answer the telephone. We hope fervently for bad weather so we don’t have to work, we knock softly, hoping that they aren’t home. We choose not to go out at all, or if we do it’s with people who won’t engage in depth with us. We avoid the pain.

 As we get overwhelmed with trauma exposure, we lose interest in things that once gave us joy: friends, family, yoga, sports, dancing, art, hobbies. We don’t listen anymore, for fear of what we’ll hear. Avoiding can become a habit, and it is very serious. 

Addictions are common with trauma exposed persons. Why? Because they allow us to numb ourselves, or avoid overwhelming feelings.  Drugs, alcohol, food, sex, electronic games are common ones. While we may understand that the thing we are addicted to has a potentially destructive nature, we allow ourselves to become attached to it. 

Overwork, for many of us, becomes an addiction. The rush of adrenaline that come with moving fast, and the rewards given by our productivity-based society to us for overworking make it nearly impossible to stop. 

We need to ask ourselves: do I have a productivity-based identity? Am I only as valuable as what I DO, not who I am? Do I lack the inner capacity to deal with my reality, or am I seeing a thing, substance, or person to help me avoid it?

Ps. 84:11 “The Lord is a sun and a shield, The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Prov.11:25 “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters, will himself be watered.”

Phil. 2:10,11 “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow,… every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Lord, break the power of idols in my life! Our hearts are idol-makers, and we must keep diligently aware, to break the power of addictions before they become too powerful in our lives.

8. Inability to Empathize, Numbing. An inability to feel with a person, or feeling numb, happens as a result of being overwhelmed with bad things that happen to people. One person described it as if you are a sponge that gets completely saturated and is never wrung out. You can only hold so much. 

The body naturally used a complicated mix of hormones, chemicals, and sensory cues to manufacture feelings. These alert us to danger, focus our attention, and calm us down. But we can override it, that is “numb out” by shutting them down. 

Alcohol and drugs are used to numb our feelings, but also they can be numbed by adrenaline, caffeine, and even too much sugar. 

Overwork many times takes our attention, and this is not a good thing. Many people addicted to overwork report that when they take a vacation, they are sick the first half of it, because they are not used to living in a relaxed state. Imagine going on a 7-day vacation and being sick the first 5 days from adrenaline withdrawal. It happens, frequently!

Here's a quote from Thomas Merton: “The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”  (p. 108, Trauma Exposure)

“Be still and know that I am God.” Ps. 46:10

Ps 119:32  “I will run the way of your commandments for you will enlarge my heart.”

II Tim 2:3 “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier in Christ Jesus…”

9. Dissociative moments. We all know what it is like to dissociate temporarily, having our mind wander when we’re listening to a story, or not remembering where we were when we were going along a road that we had gone on 5,000 times.

 But the dissociative experience we are talking about here is caused by intrusive or overwhelming feelings. A person cuts themselves off from their internal experience in order to guard against sensations and emotions that would be overwhelming to them. Not only are they in their own little world , separate from those they are supposed to be listening to, but their mind is wandering. This is common for people who are exposed to suffering. 

Don’t try to pretend it isn’t happening, just admit it and ask for them to repeat the last few sentences. And get help!

Is 42:19,20  “Who is so blind but My servant? Or so deaf as my messenger whom I send? …You have seen many things but do not observe them, your ears are open but you do not hear.” We need to be so focused on God that we just see what He wants us to see. Like a horse with blinders on. This will help our getting overwhelmed with the trauma all around us. This is one of my favorite self-care verses. 

Lam 3:22-26

 ²² The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
²⁶ It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.

Self-care. We ALL need it, no matter of we are in a people-serving business or not. Those in such professions (counselors, teachers, pastors, missionaries, lawyers, doctors, nurses, caregivers) need it twice as much. Let's calm ourselves and enjoy life. God is on the throne. 

Burnout? Me? Part 2

These are for the people who got high on the "2" of the enneagram. The "Givers," who are very compassionate people, and give and give...    

            

4.) Diminished creativity- Diminished creativity is when you think to yourself “When was the last time I had an original thought?” You may find that you’re bored with what  you’re doing and you can’t remember a time when you felt creative. “Only a person who is relaxed can create, and from that mind ideas flow like lightening.” (Cicero) But trauma exposure makes us crave more structure and less creativity.

One group decided to cancel one business meeting a month, and just devote it to having people write. They were to write the latest theories and approaches to their work, then think outside the box, trying to get creative ideas. It worked! But the emphasis had to be on creativity, not productivity, or the people’s resistance to relaxing would come out.

“The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” Ex. 14:14

“Therefore let us fear, lest while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it …there remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” Heb. 4:1, 9

"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, for He gives to His beloved sleep." Ps. 127:1,2

5. Minimizing. People who witness lots of trauma become increasingly inoculated to others’ pain. We trivialize a current situation by comparing it with another situation we consider more serious. For example, we say, “What, you’re complaining about your fight on the playground today? It’s not like anyone got hurt or killed with a weapon.” Or someone comes to you with for help dealing with the death of a relative and you say (inside), “Well it’s not Auschwitz.”
 Minimizing is losing our compassion and ability to empathize because we are comparing others’ suffering, and putting it into a hierarchy. We feel saturated, and can’t let ourselves feel anymore.


Prov. 14:21 “He who despises his neighbor sins,
But happy is he who is gracious to the poor.”


Is. 42:3  “A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.”


Jer. 8:22 “Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?”





6. Chronic exhaustion/physical ailments. There are 2 kinds of exhaustion: feeling tired because you put in a hard day’s work, and feeling fatigued in every cell of your being. You feel bone-tired, soul-tired, heart-tired mind-tired from trauma exposure, and when you awaken the next morning you don’t feel refreshed. This happens to people who are completely overwhelmed by the urgency of the tasks to do, or the despair from feeling that you have no choice but to remain in the helping profession. After all, who would do it if you did not?

Some of the physical symptoms from trauma exposure are: back pain, migraine headaches, high blood pressure, body aches, clinical depression, stress-induced diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, cancer, strokes, and heart attacks.

 I had a stroke in 2015, a wake-up call to do less. Trauma exposure is very tiring. As we accumulate it, our bodies and minds will require extra attention in order to become fully rested and refreshed. A colleague of mine gave me good advice: “Take frequent vacations,” she said.


Ps 71:17-20 “O God, you have taught me from my youth, and I still declare your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come…You who have showed me many troubles and distresses will revive me again.”


II Cor. 4:16-18 ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

These 3 symptoms may or may not resonate with us, but we can be on the lookout for them just the same. Only in the Lord is there victory!

Burnout? Me? Part 1

Isn't it selfish to take care of ourselves? Not really, and we all need to do it.

We all are subject to burnout when we work with people. Whether we call it compassion fatigue, burnout, or secondary trauma, it is very real, and we close our eyes to it at our peril. What I am going to present here are 12 warning signs of trauma exposure response. Some of us have experienced trauma first hand, and need to get those wounds healed. All of us experience it second hand from talking to people who have gone through it (or are still experiencing it).

They are from a book by L. Lipsky called Trauma Stewardship: Guide to Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others. They are particularly relevant for counselors, teachers, pastors, lawyers, missionaries, doctors, nurses, and caregivers to the sick or disabled.

In the next 4 blogs, I'll discuss 3 items each time. Some may resonate more than others with you. Pay attention to those!

At the end of each one, I've put some Bible verses which we can use to counteract them, and receive encouragement from. How vital that we receive encouragement in our journey! 

1 1.)     Feeling helpless and hopeless- probably one of the most common responses to trauma. It’s not unusual for a worker to feel “Why even get out of bed? The job is so great, and my contribution is so small.”  There are 3 perceptions that contribute to such helplessness.

a.      Individuals hold themselves personally responsible for every troubled situation. While you know in your gut there is only so much you can do, you still feel responsible in some way.

b.      The traumatic event will be long-lived; they see no possibility of relief. A war-torn situation, or family problems that continue for decades are two examples of this.

c.       The individual believes that no matter where he/she goes, they will repeat their current struggles. “I’m not good enough!”

Hab. 2:2,3 “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail, Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”

Is 35:3,4 “Encourage the exhausted, strengthen the feeble, take courage, fear not. Behold your God will come with vengeance…”

Is 49:24,25  “Can the prey be taken from the mighty man, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? Surely, says the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken  away, and the prey of the tyrant will be rescued; for I will contend with the one who contends with you, and I will save your children.”

 Lk 5:31 “It is not those who are well who need a physician but those who are sick. I have not come to call righteous men but sinners to repentance.”

Is. 55:10,11 "For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, making it bear and sprout, ..so shall my Word be which goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me empty, but without accomplishing what I desire..." 

2 2.)     A sense that one can never do enough- This powerful, widespread message often starts from childhood. As children, were we taught to take care of ourselves, prioritize our health and well-being? Or did we learn of the urgency of the cause we champion? This sense of urgency is often communicated to volunteers and workers, distracting them from pacing themselves at a sustainable rate. After all, there’s always one more child in need of care, one more woman whose been beaten and abused, one more poor family needing money…

His yoke means giving up our self -imposed ideas of changing, controlling, and manipulating others and co-operating with Him to accomplish His kingdom’s work.  “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls.” –Jesus    (Matt. 11:28-29)

Gal 6:2,5 Bear one another’s burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ… Each shall bear his own load.

Rom 9:16 “So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.”

3)  Hypervigilance- This means a person has an abnormally increased arousal, constant scanning of the environment to detect threat. It causes and is caused by anxiety. This experience is common for people who have survived trauma. But it also shows up in people who have secondary trauma.

Whenever I do a seminar about sex trafficking, for days before and afterwards, every man I see I wonder “Is he a perpetrator?” Or after I’ve counseled a series of troubled marriages, I go into a store, see a couple, and assume that the man is controlling the woman.

 It is made worse by modern technology: cell phones beep and ping every few minutes. We have difficulty turning off the information, getting away from work, and relax and be present with our lives. 

Who suffers? Ourselves and our families!

            "Be still and know that I am God." Ps. 46:10

            "'For the mountains may be moved, and the hills may shake, But my lovingkindness will not be removed from you, nor my covenant of peace shaken,' says the Lord who has compassion on you." Is. 54:10

Is. 54:15 “If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from me, whoever assails you will fall because of you.”

Hopefully you don't struggle with these symptoms too much. Recognizing them is half the battle towards beating them! 

What does everyone need to be emotionally whole?

The third thing person needs to be emotionally whole is courage. Consider that anxiety has risen to the #1 mental health problem in the world. (it used to be depression). We are truly entering into the time that the Bible identifies as “Men’s hearts failing them from fear” (Lk. 21:26a)


A fearful person struggles with an inaccurate image of God. “Your God is too small.”


People say these things to themselves:


What if I fail?

I have to be perfect!

I have to be in control.

I will NOT trust.

If I lose ________ it will wipe me out.

I have to have other people’s approval.


Try catching yourself, and replacing such negative self talk with these:


It’s worth a try. What’s the worst that can happen?

I can have to courage to be imperfect. (meditate on that one for a while!)

What have I got to lose?

My worth as a person doesn’t depend on others’ approval.

I’m able to try new things and take the risk of failure.

I don’t have to control things. Even if I don’t like it, I can live with it.



I give out “Brain Vitamins” to my clients. They are positive affirmations on little cards that people can post on their mirrors, or in their cars, or wherever they will frequently look . Some of them are in the self-talk suggestions above.
 Many people post Scripture around their house, to remind them of God’s faithfulness. We need reminding! Why don’t you do that too? Here are some scriptures for you:

Is 49:9,10; II Cor. 4:16-18; Jn. 16:33; Matt. 6: 19-34 (OK, That’s a little long to post on your mirror!); Heb. 11:6; I Jn.4:4, 18.


Faith is the opposite of fear. It comes by hearing the word of God, that is in our innermost parts of our soul. We need to spend time quietly meditating on Him, spend time with a mentor and wise (positive) people, spend time in His word. It can be done, even if we’re “crazy busy!” Audible or listening to the Bible or podcasts is one way to increase our exposure to His life-changing word.


Let’s not let the word squeeze us into its mold. Anxiety is the result! Let’s be intentional to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. The result  will be that you feel better, have much more peace, and are more in love with Jesus.