Peace. We long for it, look for it, try to make it happen, and hate when it feels out of reach.

And it's especially hard when it feels like we're all alone in our anxious thoughts with no defense and no end in sight.

Ever been there? I'm Ruth Joe Simons, and this is the Grace Lace podcast. Today,

my co-host, Eve Steibs and I are sitting down to remind each other, and hopefully you too,

that God gives us peace when we're burdened with anxiety. So let's get started.

Well, this is a topic for the ages today, because it's something that I think is so common

and something we wrestle all the time and just feels hard. So I'm excited that we get to

dig in. I think we wanted to start with just a little bit of a disclaimer on the front end

because we're talking about anxiety today and we want to

start by saying we're not experts. We're sharing our stories and recognizing that the topic has a lot

of nuance and can be really complicated. So if you are listening today and you find yourself really

wrestling with anxious thoughts and or depression, we'd encourage you to share your struggle with a trusted

friend, pastor, or counselor for really specific help. And that being said, in the meantime,

we are going to talk about it today. Like, how are we anchoring ourselves to truth when we wrestle

with anxious thoughts? So I'll start by asking the question instead of going first.

Ruth, how would you describe maybe your experience with anxiety or anxious thoughts? Maybe what do they

most center on? Like, what causes anxiety in your heart? You know, I'll answer to. Yeah. Well,

anxious thoughts, I think, are persistent in my life. You know, I'll answer to. Yeah. Well, anxious thoughts, I think, are,

are persistent in my life. I think the very reason why I even care about this topic, preaching

truth to yourself, is because I've wrestled so much with waves of anxious thoughts, waves of

anxiety. I think what you and I were saying at the start of this is that we're not trying to clinically

talk about what anxiety and depression is like, but maybe the persistent nature of life

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