Fight Fear and Anxiety by Hitting Your Mental Reset Button

Conversations at our house tend to follow a pattern. We make a plan, and my husband assumes that all will be well. That's my cue to begin thinking about the details and coming up with at least five things that could (and probably will) go wrong. I've been honing my catastrophizing skills for over a half-century now, so I'm pretty good at it. (Not to brag…) However, I'm learning to practice a mental reset that is both biblical and practical.

Anxiety preaches a false gospel, telling you everything depends on you and that you need to practice worst-case scenario planning. Understand this: things can go wrong. But they can also go right! And even when they do go wrong, if we believe in a sovereign and benevolent Presence behind every single circumstance in our lives, it's time to look for the goodness in the unexpected. It's time to start looking for the mental reset button.

The Mental Reset

As a grace-dependent woman, I'm not a proponent of Operation Bootstrap, nor was the Apostle Paul. See his words affirming "I am what I am by the grace of God" in 1 Corinthians 15:10.) Even so, he directs his friends in Colossae to take a firm hand with their thought life:

Colossians 3:2: Set your mind on things above…

His argument is pretty strong, based on our understanding that the resurrection changes everything. When Jesus rose from the dead, the first thing he did was go into the store windows of life and change all the price tags. Suddenly, "things above," spiritual things, life with God, and the glory of God are utterly valuable and desirable.

The calm, orderly, predictable, comfy life I would normally see as the highest good when I am my own boss and belong to myself is inconsistent with a mindset that values pesky people, inconvenient interruptions, unplanned and unforeseen circumstances, and change of any kind. A change in mindset frees me to value what God values.

Hit the Mental Reset Button

If anxiety has come home to roost at your place, remember Christ, "seated at the right hand of God," as your mental reset button. That may mean carrying 3×5 cards with important scripture passages in your pocket or bag. It may be better to just go ahead and memorize Colossians 3:1-3 or Isaiah 26:3 and then ask God to help the Word come alive in your heart.

Don't worry about how long it takes you to memorize or whether you're doing it perfectly. The process itself is healing and strengthening, for as you run the sacred text through the tangled synapses of your anxious brain, thetruth will have an untangling effect.

Anxiety is spiritual warfare, and we have to fight it on every front: body, soul, and spirit. Rehearse true things about God, and if you've never heard the phrase "sword of the Spirit," read up on the armor of God in Ephesians 6 as solid evidence that God knows we will struggle with all kinds of temptations and fears and has already made a way to protect us.

Truth is a powerful weapon and a gift from God!