Anxiety, at least in my life, is seldom a sudden thing. It doesn’t spring up like a mushroom from the ground—full grown overnight. Rather, anxiety in my experience is a subtle and insidious thing; something that builds slowly over time. Though the feeling of anxiety may appear suddenly, it is the product of hundreds of small things—unquestioned assumptions, unexamined thoughts, errant valuations of things. It has long been at work. Anxiety establishes its stronghold like the growth of a stalagmite or stalactite—one drip at a time over a long period of time.
That’s precisely why deliverance from anxiety seldom happens in one fell swoop. It is a matter of renewing the mind (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23), day-by-day, hour-by-hour, moment-by-moment. It is a matter of deconstructing the lies that are at the root of anxiety and of replacing them with the truth that brings in “peace like a river” (Isa. 48:18; 66:12).
That is precisely why Paul Tautges’ Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace is so helpful. It is not only insightful; it delivers the truth to us day after day in doses that enable us to make substantive progress in the renewal of our minds and in pursuit of God’s peace in a steady progression toward wholeness. A month’s worth of daily investment in truth really will establish a pattern that will make a difference in your battle against anxiety.
I testify to the help it has been to me and to the aid it is to those with whom I have shared it.
I’m adding this book to my devotional rotation and will be recommending it to biblical counselors and counselees.
Fantastic! Thank you, Shirley.