Addicted to Anxiety

        I went to a conference last night, at a church in Bentonville, called "Addicted to Anxiety". The conference was put on by "Tangible Truth Ministries" at the First Baptist Church in Bentonville. It was just full of information for me and every other women there. I probably had 6 pages of things that I wrote down from that 2 hour conference. There were 5 different speakers. Two of them were live and then the other 3 were live from videos but it was still great. I will write about some of the things that I wrote down and thought was important but that still won't be enough to explain how it touched my life. I might have to do some Bible verses entries from the verses I got during the conference.
        The first speaker that talked was Angie Cross and she was live from a video but she still had an important message and I got a lot from her. To her, anxiety is those nagging thoughts that you can't get rid of and fear is those thoughts you think but yet you can get ride of. Sometimes anxiety and fear can go and does go together but this is how she tells them apart. She has a problem with social anxiety, which I can relate to big time. For her, though, the way I understood it, she didn't see it until her later years or she developed it in her later years. Either way, it still means a lot to me. I loved the advice that she gave and that advice was, "Wherever you go, assume that you are welcome." She said that whoever she would go into a big group, she felt like she wasn't welcome so she would start to get anxious so she just started to think that thought and that helped her.
         Another piece of advice from her was, "Shine through me, Jesus." She said that saying that helped her with her anxiety because she knew she was doing it for a reason and that reason was Jesus and she didn't want to let Him down. There is a verse that was shared last night that kind of goes with that and it is: 2 Samuel 22:29-31 (ESV). Another piece of advice from her was, "What you do can't be separated from that you believe. It's not about you or them, it is about God." That to me was really powerful.
        The 2nd speaker was another women on live video and her name is Beth Moore. I was kind of disappointed that she wasn't going to be there but I know I was also being hopeful because she is a very busy women. I would love to meet her one day, though. She told us that she started her ministry or speaking about Christ at the age of 18 and that really encouraged me. She also has anxiety about things and she gave us the 5 biggest triggers for her. Some of them are: conflicts of loved ones, when she thinks she has done or said something wrong, hates to say "no", and when there are expectations to reach. I can relate, also, to all of them. Who would have thought, one of the best women speakers worry about all of these things? Just shows what God can do through you if you would let Him.
         The piece of advice that I got from her and really stuck with me was: "Anxiety is an insult to God." It is an insult because He tells us to trust Him and to give everything over to Him so He can take care of them. When we have anxiety, it is like we don't trust God with certain things and to a big God that is a big insult. How do you think that makes God feel, when His children won't trust Him with things even the little things? The question that we need to ask ourselves and God is: "What should I be releasing to You?"
          The 3rd speaker and main speaker of the night was Sarah Gross but what she taught me will have to be in another entry because there was a lot of good advice and verses from her. The last speaker of the night was one that I probably could relate to the best. I wish she would have had more time to talk because I can only think how much she would touch my life if she kept going on her points. Her name was Holley Gerth and she is a native from Arkansas and has wrote a lot of encouraging books.
           This is what I learned from Holley Gerth. She said that her anxiety started in the 3rd grade too because everyone was making fun of how she looked. She would go to the nurse because her stomach was hurting and she would even hid in the bathroom at times because had had social anxiety and the school setting was just too much for her at times. I did some of those things too. I would go to the bathroom and hid or to my parents' classroom or office just to get away from people. Granted it was mainly in high school because I was getting made fun of and things were just harder with family situations but I still did those things. I would like to think that I've always had social anxiety but it has gotten to be more noticeable the more I am by myself.
          Holley talked about how she changed her social anxiety into her "superpower" for God. She also explained what was going on in people's body with social anxiety. It has a lot to do with our brain and central nervous system. She told us how our anxiety could be used for God by making us attentive to other people's lives because we are so sensitive. I think about that has a bad thing sometimes because I don't notice the signs but if I did, I believe that I could make a difference in a lot of people's lives. If I can make myself do that and believe it is a gift from God for that, my superpower. When we change our anxiety to attentiveness by getting us focused on people and then to transform to what we think that person needs, and then to help and love on them.
         She also told us that she asked and challenged us to ask this question too when we are feeling down about ourselves, "Lord, what's really true?" Then she advised us to look in His Word, listen to other believers, and then to the Spirit itself. Another question she challenged us with was: "God, what do you want me to do?" She said that He answered her by saying: "Bless them with Me." Another piece of advice that she gave nearing the end of her talk was: "Obedience is success". If we obey God, then we will become successful. We might not become successful in the way the world looks at success but we will become successful in God's way.
       
My challenge to whoever reads this entry is to reread what I put in bold letters and ask yourself those questions everyday though the day and repeat those quotes in bold everyday through the day. It is something I am going to try myself.
 It would be neat to see and hear what God has taught you while saying and asking those things so leave comments or write me if you know me personally or try and get together. I'm free anytime, all the time right now. I'm willing to listen to any kind of stories. :)