Anxiety 2 AM

I'm lying in bed trying to sleep and it's just not working. No matter what I do I just cannot sleep. This has been ongoing for several nights. Minutes and hours tick away as I toss and turn making futile attempts at slumber.

However, tonight is worse.

Tonight I am overcome by an inexplicable sense of panic and dread. I am riled up and tense. Its an anxiety attack.

I toss and turn trying to clear the buzz of concerns and fears that have suddenly filled my mind. Finally, like a lost child I cry out

"Father God help me! Please give me peace Lord and remove this anxiety from my heart"

I knew I had not been keeping up with my Bible reading and so I lunged for my iPod. I tune into the book of Galations in my NKJV playlist. However, I feel like a woman starved who was handed a meal supplement. It was something, but nowhere near enough. I scramble for my Bible. Digging in I go from one verse to the next, eyes darting, gasping for breath until I land in the book of Philippians and I stop on highlighted text:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God;

and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

Philippians 4:6-7

That's just what I needed. Not only God's peace, but the knowledge of his peace. What good is there in having a safety net to catch us if one does not know the safety net is there?

I jotted down the verses and allowed them to fall alongside me, to envelope me. After rereading those verses, a couple more times, I took a few deep breaths, prayed once again thanking God for His peace, and drifted off to sleep.

~~