Book Review, The Anxious Christian- Can God Use Your Anxiety For Good? by Rhett Smith

I received this book through the Moody Publishers Blogger Review Program for free in exchange for an honest review.

I gotta tell you when I picked this book I was really excited to get it in the mail as soon as possible. I was hoping it would arrive in time for my vacation, but alas the order was misplaced and they had to send it again. I received it after vacation and tried to get into it right away as I wanted to get this review and blog post done sooner rather than later. 

With getting back into the swing of normal life after vacation, it took me a lot longer to pick up the book and start.  When I did start it felt like pulling teeth to read through the first couple of chapters.  You see, it's a non fiction book, which are hard for me to read anyway, but it's also because the author himself isn't a prolific writer. His style is that of an amateur writer and a bit fragmented. I was disappointed at first but then I remember how I pushed through to read Corrie Ten Boom's autobiography called The Hiding Place and how glad I was after I got through chapter 5 and the book really took off.

Once I got into Chapter 3 of The Anxious Christian, I caught myself teary eyed and engaged because it was like at times I could have been writing the book. The words in his book are often things that I have said to myself or others in the past. 

The author references another Author, William Bridges' in his book Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes. He talks to something pointedly about the distinction between change and transition. 

Our society confuses them constantly, leading us to imagine that transition is just another word for change. But it isn't.... Change is situational. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological. It is not those events, but rather inner re-orientation and self-redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes in your life. Without a transition, a change is just a rearrangement of the furniture. Unless transition happens, the change won't work, because it doesn't "take". Whatever word we use, our society talks a lot about change, but it seldom deals with transition.

This is where he talks about his Epiphany of what Exodus 17:1 says about the Israelites journeying through stages in the wilderness and likens the fact that we are people in the wilderness that are constantly in transition and change, with small respites from it. One of the reasons we experience anxiety is that God is persistently trying to move us through the wilderness, because it is in the wilderness that we are most dependent on Him, it is in the wilderness experience that God shapes us into the people He desires us to become.(pages 44-45)

He also states previously that when we experience anxiety we are in a place where freedom is opened up for us, by God. We can choose to run and hide or we can choose to embrace the anxiety and through the embracing, grow closer to God and where he wants us to be. He also states that this is NOT an easy thing, if it was then Philippians 4:6 would cure all of our worries.

I've never been one to do the exercises at the end of chapters of these types of books. With this book I did do a lot of them in my head that lead me to a lot of deep thought about my past and what could have contributed to feelings and habits I still do today.

I really enjoyed the way he explains how we get stuck in a rut.  He speaks to how when running there are two paths, one path is more easy to navigate, it's been worn down , we know it well and it's great. The second path is full of rocks, harder to navigate with lots of obstacles.  Over time our brains wire themselves this way as well. We have the easy path and the hard one. We tend to choose the one that creates the least anxiety, the one without option for failure. But when we do this we avoid growing. 

I enjoyed his use of Robert Frost here:  Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

I was encouraged with the fact that his book is peppered with scripture and quotes from well know theologians and scholars. 

I've been looking at this book as a growth experience. I've been trying to use my anxiety for good change and personal growth. The problem there lies in the transition.  I've always hated change, felt unwell in my skin in those times of change, especially large changes. For example in my life: Moving out on my own for the first time, getting married, getting pregnant, being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, dealing with high blood pressure issues while pregnant, having a horrible birthing experience, postpartum depression, weight gain, struggling with not wanting more children but my husband did, making the decision to have another child, having another horrible pregnancy, losing weight after the 2nd pregnancy and feeling great only to discover it was a short respite and then back to diabetes, buying a house, having both children in school, understanding where to go from here. 

So, do I recommend the book?  Yes, it's a good one. The author starts out slow but moves forward with some great tools to move yourself forward. He speaks to wrestling with God, with creating space and boundaries, getting intentional, refining relationships and seeking help.

In an society where there is so many people facing anxiety we need a book like this to help us overcome fear and stigma.

Lent, We are halfway there..... Have I seen growth yet?

Here I am realizing I am behind on my goal of weekly blogging, listening to Crowder's  All We Sinners on Spotify trying to get a little motivated to write this blog post.

We are 22 days into Lent and the challenge of 40acts that I've taken on and I am trying to analyze the last few weeks to see if anything has changed and if I've seen personal growth or not.  It's really hard to self analyze when you tend be a constant procrastinator and not want to look inward.

In Crowder's song All We Sinners (You Tube video of song with lyrics) he writes:

The crimson river, like a flood
Came washing over all of us
It swallowed sin and death right up
And all we sinners sang
Yeah, all we sinners sang

These lyrics really touch my heart so much, they show me that even though I have moments, hours, days, weeks, months and years where I am just not looking in the right places that I am covered by the Blood of Jesus.  I gotta tell ya, on weeks like these when I feel like the devil is creeping in and daily life is just stealing my joy this gives me a reason to carry on and look to a brighter day.

As for Lent, I was to share a story with you from a week ago that really touched me. I was in Shaw's getting in line to check out. I looked behind me and saw an older lady, in her 70s if I had to guess. I offered to have her go in front of me. Normally, if someone has a small amount of things in their basket I would offer this anyway, but with doing the 40acts I have been more aware of my surroundings and looking for ways to be more generous.

This woman was taken aback when I offered and I swear she was almost to tears for this really tiny act of kindness.  She looked at me like I had 3 heads, not just 2, and must have said Thank you 5 times between the time I offered and the time she left.  We spoke briefly about the fact that she has never had anyone offer that to her before. I mentioned that we live in a sad world where small acts of kindness aren't done as often as they should be. She nodded, completed her order, gave me a nice big smile you could see up in her eyes and said Thank you one last time.  I told her to have a nice day.

That night I had to come home and share that with my husband and he suggested I write about it.

What can you do this week that is something simple and nice to someone around you?

Once a month I try to remember to buy the person behind me in the Dunkin Donuts drive thru their coffee. I never see their faces and I've never had anyone do this for me before, but I would be ecstatic if someone bought me my morning coffee.  Sometimes the smallest things we do can ripple into someone's day and change their whole attitude. I remember before EZPass when people would pay for me to go through the tolls as an act of kindness, it was a really cool feeling.

So, have I seen growth?  I've been going through my TV and movie viewing choices and trying to weed out all the stuff that gives me negative emotions, but also because it is a big time sucker.  I am hoping by removing that temptation to veg out in front of the TV I can make more room for God in my life.  I've been reading more, still trying to finish The Anxious Christian by Rhett Smith so I can write my review.  It has some really great stuff in it.  I think it's helping me see a little more of myself than I would like.

So, growth?  Maybe a little, a smidgen.

Check out Mark 4: Parables of the Sower, The Growing Seed & The Mustard Seed

1 Week Into Lent, Has Anything Changed?

I would like to say that signing up for the 40acts(My Blog about Lent and this organization) has helped during this Lent season, but so far it doesn't seem to be bearing any fruit.

John 15:1-3

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

So does this mean that my heart needs pruning, probably.

Unfortunately, my silly personality is such that I am a procrastinator and someone who fights with every part of my brain not to be pushed outside my comfort zone. It's not to say that the emails coming my way are that hard or even that they haven't changed my thinking patterns a little, because I do have to say that I have prayed a little more when reading them, and thought about things I could do to change, but alas so far this week it's been a struggle. 

This is what my blog is about, honesty and my struggle with daily life to glorify Him-God!
Not me, God.  Say it again and again......  We live in a culture that talks about "It's all about me" how do we move outside of this egocentric circle? How do we not see things from other people's perspectives anymore? I don't have the answers, I'm just pondering. 

1 step at a time, 1 day at a time.  Change the things we can and allow God to change those things we can't possibly.

In Matthew 19, Jesus talks about how people can be saved. Verse 26 says:  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

So, although I might think that I haven't changed that much this week, who knows what God sees.  I will strive to do better this coming week.  What I have noticed is that for a small amount of time each day I focus more of things in the world through God's eyes than I do on my own self.

1. What's holding you back?
1a. What do you have to give?: time, skills, resources

2. Keep something helpful on you and be willing to give it away
2a. Make a kit for someone you know or don't know, and give it to them.

3. Research Local clubs or organizations around you
3a. Can you support one of them financially?

THIS ONE WAS A TOUGH ONE FOR ME
4. Identify the screen that takes up most of your time. Is it TV? Games on your tablet/console? Sifting through your newsfeed on social media? Total how much screen time you spend. Review it, and make a conscious decision to cut down.
4a. Swap the time for real time with family and/or friends
4b. Make an effort to continue to do this once a week

5. Think about those people who are in prison, here is a website for an organization in the UK but there are various ones around the US as well. http://www.prisonhope.org.uk/
5a. Connect with an organization like Prison Fellowship https://www.prisonfellowship.org/ and get involved in their Angel Tree program
5b. Or you could stretch yourself and commit to writing a prisoner on a regular basis.

“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Matthew 25:36 

ARE WE REALLY LISTENING WHEN WE ARE MULTI-TASKING?
6. Remove any distractions while speaking with someone
6a. Didn't listen well recently when someone was talking with you? Remedy that, go back and talk with them again without distraction
6b. Make this a habit.  

I know as a mom and a woman I am really good at multi-tasking. Or am I , when it comes to listening? I know I get the gist of what they are saying but if I'm not engaged face to face with them, or something else is taking my attention away then I might miss facial expressions or body language that could deepen those connections.

"To answer before listening – that is folly and shame." Proverbs 18:13

That was week 1.  I am currently still reading through the last couple and will post again sometime soon.

Are any of these things tugging at your heart strings today or recently?

Maybe you are trying to remove yourself from electronic distractions, well you can download their last year's pdf here, it's different than this year's but it'll still challenge you: https://40acts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/40acts_Challenge_2016.pdf

It's not too late to sign up for the emails at http://www.40acts.org.uk

Lent Has Begun , What's Different This Year

In researching Lent last month I stumbled, more liked God led me to, upon this website called http://www.40acts.org.uk

It's a movement to do acts of generosity during lent in order to be more like Jesus. Yes traditionally Lent you give up something to come along side Jesus when he was 40 days in the desert and that's fine too if it works for you, but it never has driven me closer, that's just not who I am. So, here goes something new.

Sign up online and they send you an email everyday with a stop light challenge, green - yellow- red, something that might bring you out of your comfort zone, but to be more intentional.
They have downloads for kids and church groups as well. I'll write more through the month of my journey, but for now I encourage you to at least look into it and possibly sign up.

Do Lent differently this year, or for the first time. Share with me how it's going. Love like it's a verb.

Matthew 10:8b Freely you have received; freely give.