How to Ask God for Help When Full of Anxiety, Stress, or Overwhelm | Prayers for Anxiety Stress | Christian mindful stress management | Give your worries to Jesus | Emotional Regulation


How do we ask God for help with our anxiety, stress, or when we have a sense of being completely overwhelmed? 

Hi friends. Welcome back to Faith and Soul Care. This is Sherry Elaine. 

Today I want to talk about 

something I think every single one of us has experienced: feeling completely overwhelmed. 

You know what it feels like. Your mind is racing, your body is tense, and it seems like life has handed you a pile of too much of everything all at once. You may feel on edge and even shaky, and you cannot think straight no matter what.

[You can always listen to the blog articles on the Faith & Soul Care Podcast, here on he website or at your preferred pod player host]:

Now don’t worry. This is not another message about how to manage anxiety from someone who knows nothing about the experience of severe anxiety. You know what I mean—you read that article and it said, “Find a quiet spot and still your mind.” And you were like, “What are you talking about? A quiet spot and still my what? My mind is what is making all the noise in my head with my own thoughts. It doesn’t matter how quiet it is—I cannot calm and regulate!” Or they may say, “Use gratitude, you cannot be worried and thankful at the same time.” And I’m thinking, when I am really worried, I am not able to independently switch to thankful mode. My brain waves do not quite cross like that. So how do I turn on the gratitude switch when I am stressed out beyond comprehension?

So in this episode, take some notes or come back later to listen and take notes if you are in the car. We are going to get into practical strategies for how to manage even our severe bouts of anxiety by going to God and implementing spiritual practices that really do help us calm, regulate, and recenter on His promises and truth.

Announcement

But first, a little announcement. I want to remind you that registration is open this weekend for the Faith and Soul Care Foundations small group cohort that will be starting in September.

This is a small group where we learn and practice effective prayer methods and effective anxiety and stress management practices—including faith-based somatic practices and basic strategies in which we learn how to truly give our anxieties over to God. It is free to enroll and it even includes two online Zoom sessions together where you can ask your questions of all kinds and you can share what has helped and where support is needed.

This is very exciting. It is our third round of doing this type of group, and it has been my joy to get out from behind the mic and out from behind the blog and books and meet many of my readers and listeners and help serve them in this way. So to register go to sherryelaine.com/cohorts.

A Helpful Quote

There’s a phrase that biblical counselor Tim Allchin recently shared. He said, “Stress is less about what is happening to us and more about how we respond to uncertainty.” Now isn’t that true? It’s not just the events themselves. It’s the way our hearts and minds react when we don’t know what’s next, when we don’t know if we are going to have the resources we need, such as enough money or enough time.

And when things feel uncertain, it’s often because we feel like we don’t have control of the outcome. In fact, there are studies that show that people feel much more stress when they are uncertain about a situation than when they know for sure that something bad is going to happen.

Two Practical Faith-Based Strategies

So today I’m going to walk you through two very practical biblical ways to ask God for help when you’re feeling anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed. I’m sharing two practical strategies today, and then next week I’m going to share two more, because I have a whole collection of these strategies—different methods that have been shown to really work and really help when we are feeling anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed.

And these aren’t meaningless directives like, “Do this” or “Think that.” These are simple, accessible ways to reach out for God in the middle of the uncertainty.

Strategy 1: Breath Prayers

A breath prayer is just a short phrase that you pray as you inhale and exhale. When you do this, you want to inhale, and then you want your exhale to be longer than your inhale. This helps slow your heart rate. It calms your nervous system and sends a message to your vagus nerve that there is safety, and it refocuses your mind on the presence of God.

One of my favorites is:  

- Inhale: “God is with me.”  

- Exhale: “I will not fear.”  

You can do that five to ten times in a row: big inhale, even longer exhale. This particular prayer, “God is with me, I will not fear,” is rooted in Psalm 46:1: *“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”*

When your mind feels scattered, your body needs to know you are safe in Him. Breath prayers become a signal and a practice that help your body calm and reconnect with your soul—meaning you reconnect with your thoughts and emotions—and then you’re able to center your body, thoughts, and emotions back on the Lord’s Spirit of truth.

Strategy 2: Write Calming Prayers Ahead of Time

The second strategy for how to ask God for help when you’re stressed and overwhelmed is writing some calming prayers ahead of time. Sometimes when you’re overwhelmed, you sit down to pray and your mind goes blank. Or even worse, it just keeps racing all over the place.

So what I have done, and what I also recommend—especially if you are prone to bouts of anxiety on a regular basis—is to write down calming prayers beforehand, when your mind is already clear and calm, before the next bout of anxiety occurs. Keep these pre-written prayers ready and nearby. Then, in the middle of a stressful moment or a full-blown anxious episode, you can just read that prayer to God.

In fact, I have a little booklet called Prayers for Anxiety and you can get it on Amazon. Prayers for Anxiety by Sherry Elaine is just 99 cents and it’s available in ebook only. Here is a portion of a pre-written prayer from my booklet:

“Lord, send Your Holy Spirit and come to me and still my fretful thoughts and assure me that You are fighting this battle for me. Come to me, Holy Spirit, and help me rest as You go before me to work out God’s plan for this situation. Come to me and calm my body and mind, and remind me that You will intercede for me. Amen.”

Closing Encouragement

So those are the two practical strategies I want to share with you today. Having the prayers pre-written means you don’t have to come up with words when you are stressed—you can simply pick them up and pray them. And using breath prayers is another way to signal safety and request God’s help in those overwhelming times.

Friend, remember—think of anxiety, stress, and overwhelm as invitations, not condemnations. They are invitations to shift your response and focus. Instead of spiraling into fear or trying to control everything, you can catch yourself and use those stress signals as a prompt to connect with the God who loves you and is close to the weary.

Philippians 4:6–7 promises that when we bring our requests to Him, His peace will guard our hearts and minds.  

Let’s pray together:  

“Lord, for the one listening who feels like they’re carrying too much, meet them right now in their overwhelm. Teach them to breathe in Your presence, to find the words needed, or to find Your presence in a silent prayer, and to truly release their worries to You. Fill them with Your peace that passes all understanding. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”  

Finally, if this was helpful, share it with a friend who might be feeling overwhelmed today. And remember to check out sherryelaine.com/cohorts to register for the upcoming free Faith and Soul Care Foundations Cohort. The link is in the show notes or on the blog. These cohorts are where we will learn and practice strategies on how to truly give our anxieties to God and how to pray effectively and more.

Gratefully,

Sherry 


Resources Mentioned:


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