This is my command-be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9 NLT

Be strong, do not fear, be courageous! Those are some of the most often repeated commands in the Bible, yet for me they are the ones I struggle with the most. You see, I have battled anxiety for as long as I can remember and even when I became a Christian it remained. Even though I knew the Lord was with me and was watching over me, I didn’t feel the hope, freedom, and peace that we are told is with Christ, I just felt nervous. All. The. Time.

But then, my eyes opened. I realized I was focusing on and giving the anxiety all my attention and not God. I was asking Him to take it away, to calm me down from it, to ease it. I was talking to God all about the nerves and wearing myself out even in my prayers, but then I had a lightbulb moment where I shifted my focus from the anxiety, to the Almighty. I steered my thoughts to think about Him and who the Bible says He is. I would recall times in my life that He has rescued me and I fully began to meditate on His goodness, and not the negative feelings welling up inside me. When my thoughts changed, everything changed for me and I felt like I had unlocked a secret treasure. He became my mental focus and not the internal nerves I was battling; I discovered that there is power in praising God. I just needed to make the shift in my thoughts and my words.

So today, let’s shift our focus from the demands of the day and turn our thoughts to the One who holds all creation together. Let’s praise Him for the blessings and make those thoughts bigger than what weighs us down. Let’s fix our thoughts on the One who lovingly has His eye on us and has promised to be with us wherever we go.