Anxiety | Laurie Coombs

Archive for the ‘Anxiety’ Category

Letters of Hope #1

Posted on: April 23rd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments

Joy is coming, fear, anxiety, depression, how to battle depression, battle depression, battling depression, God, Jesus, Christian depression, trust

With permission, I’ve decided to anonymously share some of the correspondence I’ve had with readers about their struggles with anxiety and/or depression over the coming weeks. I think some of you may be able to relate with these individuals who are currently battling fear and darkness, and it is my hope that you find comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in this. And I also thought my responses may be of some use to you as well. To those readers who aren’t struggling in this area, I’d like to encourage you to hang in there with me for a few more weeks! I’ll be back writing as I had before long. Thank you for patiently waiting this topic out! Dear Laurie, I am 40 and I have struggled my whole life with anxiety, phobias, etc. I have been “coasting” using meds etc for 15+years. I haven’t driven on the…

Overcoming Anxiety and Depression {Part 2 – Thoughts}

Posted on: April 16th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 8 Comments

God, Jesus, anxiety, depression, fear, trusting God, trials, hope, you will be okay, healing, faith, how to beat depression, how to get better, what is depression, depression cure, how to beat anxiety, how to overcome anxiety, overcome, cure,

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ… – 2 Corinthians 4-5 (emphasis mine) When I was struggling with anxiety and depression, I truly thought I was going crazy. Terrible, irrational thoughts seemed to swirl through my mind continually, and I was pretty sure that it would not be a good idea to tell anyone what I was thinking. I thought maybe they’d take my kids away or admit me into some facility for the mentally ill. My thoughts were so far out there that I didn’t even know what I was capable of. I didn’t trust myself, and I think that’s what scared me the most. Now that I’m on the other side of that terrible season, I can clearly see that I was…

Scripture to Combat Fear and Anxiety

Posted on: April 2nd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

fear, anxiety, faith, Christian, God, Jesus

My girls are home for spring break this week and next, and I’m taking some time off to be with them. But I leave you with scriptures that address fear and anxiety. This is God’s Word. It’s truth. Read it as such. God said these things about YOU! What I like to do is write the scriptures that particularly speak to me in that moment on index cards. I have a little index card binder I bought at Office Depot that holds all the cards, and I try to read them out loud every day at some point. This is particularly helpful to do when you’re struggling. Instead of sitting in your struggles, turn to God’s Word and speak truth over your mind, your situation, and your feelings! God bless you! I’ll be back soon… Fear thou not; for I am with thee. – Isaiah 41:10 God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but…

More Practical Thoughts on Anxiety and Depression

Posted on: March 26th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

This is an extremely rough post. It’s an unedited response I wrote to someone this morning, and felt the Spirit tell me to share it here. I, quite frankly, don’t have time this morning to go through and refine my prose, so I won’t because after all, that’s not what it’s all about. Email after email is pouring into my inbox. There are so many of you struggling right now, and I just don’t have the heart to hold this back for the sake of making it read better. Some of you need this now. Some of you are hanging on to your lifeline by a thread. So here it is. It’s not pretty, but here it is. On another note, my daughters are off for spring break for two weeks beginning next week, so I’ll be taking some time off with them. BUT, I will be posting scriptures that…

Overcoming Anxiety and Depression {Part 1}

Posted on: March 26th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 15 Comments

hope, fear, trusting God, trust, overcome, depression, anxiety, what is anxiety, what is depression, anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, how to overcome anxiety, how to overcome depression, Jesus, God, faith,

I think last week’s post, When Anxiety and Depression Threaten to Pull You Under, struck a cord. It seems the darkness I had experienced has been experienced––or is currently being experienced––by many. Over the last week, many people have contacted me asking for help, and with each email that I received, I realized just how important it is that I speak out with complete transparency about what I went through and how I got out of it. I originally decided to write these posts on anxiety and depression in response to correspondence I received from a man I sat next to on an airplane a few weeks back. It was one of those encounters that you know God ordained, but you’re not quite sure why you’re telling a complete stranger your entire life’s story until later. Now, I’m accustom to telling strangers about the crazy story of how God redeemed…

Trusting God to Fill in the Gap

Posted on: February 25th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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“If we could just get this stuff right,” I said to my husband, “our lives would be amazing.” I had just finished listening to Pastor Andy Stanley’s Breathing Room sermon series, which addresses the importance of the way we spend both our time and money and argues that life is simply better with breathing room. Relationships thrive when there’s breathing room. We experience greater joy and peace when there’s breathing room. And ultimately we have more opportunity to grow in our relationship with God when there’s breathing room. Now, I realize this message may seem like common sense. We know this stuff. It’s nothing new. But I question how many of us still live our lives to the limit. We live in a fast paced world––in a society that makes productivity and “success” top priority. As Americans, we’re called to work hard and achieve the fallacious “American Dream.” But I don’t believe this…

An Intense Season of Growth

Posted on: January 28th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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God has had me in an intense season of growth over the last month or so. It has been a time of refinement through trial that started the moment I began praying for God to work absolute surrender in me. And though life has been a bit more difficult lately, I have been blessed greatly during this time by the presence of God and by an outpouring of truths He has spoken over me. Last week, I began compiling a list of all God has spoken over me during this season, and as I did, I felt compelled to share the list with you. Some of you may have learned these truths already; others may be learning these truths along with me. But either way, I believe these truths are powerful. So, no matter where you find yourself, I ask that you take these truths in and contemplate them. Pray for God to…

A Lifeboat to Endure the Storms of Life

Posted on: January 23rd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs

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You are loved. With a love unmatched and unparalleled by anything else. With a love incomprehensible to the human mind. A love so great, so unfathomable that many will never fully comprehend its depth this side of heaven. In the book of Isaiah, God tell of His love for us. God speaks these words over you, over me, as an affectionate Father whispers I love you in the quiet, intimate moments before lying his child to sleep. He says: But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your…

Let’s Surrender, Friends. Let’s Surrender All.

Posted on: October 31st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

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Early on in my walk with God, my friend, Nicole, sent an encouraging word to me as I wrestled with surrendering myself to God. She said, “How hard it is to surrender it all to [Jesus] and let go of all we hold on to, but how powerful our lives can be when we do just that.” She’s right, I thought. Surrendering myself wholly to Jesus was a difficult transition for me. And when I’m being completely honest with myself, I recognize that I still struggle in this area––though by the grace of God, it’s to a much lesser extent. Before becoming a Christian, I was quite controlling. Everything in my life was controlled by me. I was the one in charge. I was the one who made the decisions. And I, certainly, had a way of getting what I wanted. I mostly used kindness and charm to influence others,…

What Do You Do When Doubts Come

Posted on: October 29th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 7 Comments

At some point during your faith walk, doubts will come. I’m convinced no one is immune to doubt. “Maybe there is no God,” you may think. “Maybe this whole ‘faith thing’ is just a product of wishful thinking.” Or maybe you don’t doubt your faith in God but think, “Maybe God doesn’t love me.” Or, “Maybe God doesn’t work miracles or speak to us as He did in the Bible.” When doubt strikes, it seems to come, quite literally, out of no where. Doubt is never settling. In fact, it’s quite startling. But I, honestly, don’t believe doubt is the enemy that it appears to be. Doubt in and of itself is not sinful. And in fact, doubt can serve us well because, after all, a faith challenged––a faith questioned––is a stronger faith in the end. The story of the gospel is a powerful one, one that holds the power to transform lives,…