2020 has been a year like no other, but you don’t need me to tell you that. We’ve all been living it! A global pandemic, mounting social justice issues, civil unrest, a polarizing election. This year has been A LOT!

Over the last 8 months, I have surfed the waves of anxiety and I’m pretty confident I’m not the only one. At times, it’s been easy to let the circumstances of this year overwhelm me. And now, as we near the holiday season, with COVID cases increasing every day, I feel the waves of anxiety starting to churn again. I have been here before, most notably back in March.

I flipped through my journal to something I wrote on March 17, 2020. It was written just a few days after everything began to shut down. Anxiety was starting to rear its ugly head. I felt it mentally and physically. In that moment, I turned to the coping mechanisms that work for me like yoga, grounding techniques like boxed breathing and the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise, limiting my social media and news intake, and listening to music. Most importantly, as a follower of Jesus, I turned to the Bible. I started to identify verses that were encouraging and filled with truth to help center my thoughts and shift my focus. In some of my most anxious moments, meditating on the truth of these verses has helped me to refocus. Today, I want to share a few of my favorites with you. If you’re like me and battling some anxiety, I hope you find these verses encouraging!

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Feeling anxious? What coping mechanisms do you turn to manage anxiety?