Like a relentless jackhammer, uncertainty has been pounding on all of us for many months now. Even on spiritually fortified hearts and minds, eventually it takes its toll.

Just this week I talked with several people who are being affected directly or indirectly by severe anxiety. 

Maybe anxiety is affecting you, too. Or someone you know. It’s sure affecting me.

I just want to say this. 

Jesus sees.

His gaze toward us is full of compassion and comfort. He neither coddles nor shames. He simply loves, and His love is pure and purifying. If we’ll let that love into the hidden places within us — a scary thing to do — it will slowly dismantle and rebuild our anxious hearts.

In the light of this love we can read familiar passages — like ​“Trust in the Lord with all your heart…” (Prov. 3:5) — not as glib platitudes or impossible commands but as invitations to life. 

If I’m honest, much of my anxiety comes from leaning on — putting confidence in — my own understanding. And I know this direction of thinking won’t turn on a dime; there are mental pathways deeply grooved from a lifetime of habitually trying to protect myself and fabricate certainty. It’ll take time. 

But even now as I type, I am choosing to consciously acknowledge God’s presence with me, God’s face smiling toward me, God’s power flowing through me, God’s energy quite literally holding me together. 

And as I do that in this moment — which is the only moment any of us truly have — I do sense the peace-beyond-understanding gently displacing the anxiety.

Lord, help me to acknowledge you,
to listen for You in all I do.
Keep my mind off what isn’t mine to control,
and on things that are true.
Help me cultivate a quiet heart.
Make my soul like a held baby,
like a baby content in its mother’s arms.