When anxiety overwhelms us, it feels hopeless.

We hear well-meaning advice: “Just get over it” or “Take a chill pill.” But anxiety is real, and we can’t simply wish our feelings away.

Maybe you’re struggling in school, feeling like you’ll never amount to anything.

Perhaps your parents don’t understand, and friends seem to have it all together while you’re falling apart.

These conversations happen because anxiety affects us all, whether we’re experiencing it or trying to help someone who is.

Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5 to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” can seem impossible when we’re drowning in worry.

This is the real world with real problems that we cannot ignore.

Scripture doesn’t tell us anxiety is simply “mind over matter.”

We cannot wish our problems away or ignore our immediate needs.

But Jesus offers something different in Matthew 6: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.”

Why does He say this? Because God knows you need these things.

Jesus recognizes that “sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

He invites us to pray to Him in all circumstances: when things are going well and especially when we’re anxious and need comfort.

God cares about your struggles and understands what you’re going through better than anyone else.

Even if all your earthly anxieties were resolved today, you’d still have a greater need: righteousness and everlasting security.

When Christ says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” He means it.

Christ endures suffering for you and with you.

As the hymn “Children of the Heavenly Father” reminds us: “Neither death nor life shall ever from the Lord His children sever.”

Contributor Chad Hoover is the Campus Pastor at Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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