Six years ago, I could not have written Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace. I was a prisoner. Anxiety crippled me and held me captive. Satan took advantage of an extended season of depression I was going through that had been triggered by the impact of a myriad of dif­ficulties in our church and family. Mounting pressure from every direction, along with my own angry response to it, collided to create a swirling storm of fear. I had experienced anxiety before, but never like this. I couldn’t go on. Some days, I didn’t even want to.

Twice I went to the emergency room showing symptoms of a heart attack. After my second trip to the ER, my physician sent me to a cardiologist to get blood work and a stress test. He determined that I hadn’t had an actual heart attack (the kind that causes permanent damage to the heart muscle) but a stress-induced heart problem that causes only short-term harm.

The Mayo Clinic calls it broken heart syndrome—a tempo­rary heart condition that is brought on by stressful situations or grievous loss. It involves a surge of stress hormones disrupting the heart’s normal pumping function. This condition mimics a heart attack by causing a similar set of symptoms, including chest pain, shortness of breath, an irregular heartbeat, and generalized weakness. When this occurs, people believe they are having a heart attack. I did—twice, in less than a year. And what I experi­enced is more common than I knew.

Perhaps you can relate to one or more parts of my story. Perhaps not. Regardless, we all struggle with various forms of anxiety. What does your anxiety look like? Is it mild worry? Or full-blown panic? Or something in between? Do your feelings of anxiousness come and go—or are they constant? No matter what your anxiety looks like, the Bible speaks truth and peace into our mind and heart. Scripture directly addresses the anxious heart in helpful ways. 

Anxiety Is Entwined with Our Bodies

Anxiety is a persistent part of our human condition. It’s so common that an estimated 23 million Americans suffer from panic attacks, while millions more identify themselves as having some form of anxiety disorder. It’s helpful to realize how hon­estly the Scriptures uncover this side of human experience, shed light on the effect that anxiety has on our bodies (and vice versa), and fuel the faith that strengthens inner security and peace.

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