When Life Goes East — pt 5: Practicing Hope in Anxiety
By ALISHA WISEMAN
As we looked at in our first part, anxiety is rarely simple.
For some, it’s a constant hum; for others, it arrives suddenly, leaving your chest tight and your thoughts tangled. The Church hasn’t always known how to respond well. Sometimes we’ve tried to pray it away; other times we’ve left it entirely to medical professionals.
While medication and therapy are invaluable, there’s also a deeply spiritual question we can ask:
What if, instead of wishing anxiety would vanish, we stopped to listen to what it might be telling us?
Anxiety often exposes the lies we’ve believed about ourselves and about God. It can push us into thinking we must control everything, prove our worth, or hold the world together—when in reality, we are God’s beloved.
This article is about moving from recognising anxiety to practicing peace.
Allowing for peace
The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3:15:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.”
The Greek word for “rule” here is unique—it means to act as a judge or umpire. An umpire decides whether the ball is in or out. Paul’s picture is clear: the peace of Christ should be the deciding factor in our inner life.
But too often, anxiety sits in the umpire’s chair instead.
Sometimes that’s obvious—your heart races, your thoughts spiral. Other times it’s subtle. Anxiety might drive you to overwork—not because you’re ambitious, but because you fear not having enough. It might make you keep people at a distance—not because you’re detached, but because you’re afraid of being hurt.
It’s a bit like Pixar’s Inside Out 2, where Anxiety barges into the control room of a teenage girl’s mind. At first, it promises to keep her safe. But when it runs the whole show, things quickly unravel.
Paul’s invitation is the opposite: allow the peace of Christ to take the lead in your control room.
Why avoidance and reassurance keep us stuck
When anxiety triggers, the amygdala—our brain’s emotional alarm—fires quickly and loudly. Avoidance tells the amygdala, “You’re right, this is dangerous,” reinforcing the fear. Reassurance seeking—asking for repeated comfort from others or from social media—has the same effect. Over time, these patterns make anxiety stronger.
Neuroscientist and spiritual director Nader Sahyouni has developed a prayer framework that works with our brains instead of against them. In his book Anxiety Transformed, he outlines three ways to pray through anxiety—journeying through what he calls the Three A’s:
Avoid less – Prayer in the heat of the moment.
Accept more – Slowing down to explore the roots of anxiety.
Attach better – Building secure, long-term patterns of peace.
This isn’t theory alone—Nader draws from Scripture, neuroscience, and psychotherapy. Two of his practices are especially helpful for everyday life:
1. The “Please, Thank You, Yes” prayer
From Jesus in Gethsemane to Paul with his “thorn in the flesh,” Scripture offers a three-part rhythm for prayer in anxious moments:
Please – Ask for relief. It’s safe to pray, “God, please take this away.”
Thank You – Express gratitude, not for the pain, but for God’s presence within it. Gratitude literally calms the amygdala.
Yes – Accept what God hasn’t yet removed, trusting He is redeeming it.
If we only ever pray “Please,” it can become a cycle of reassurance seeking. “Thank You” and “Yes” create room for peace to grow.
2. Attachment as the antidote
Our deepest security doesn’t come from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of Someone we trust. Just as a child’s confidence grows when they know a loving parent is near, our resilience grows when we regularly return to God as our secure base.
Henri Nouwen put it this way:
“Worrying causes us to be ‘all over the place,’ but seldom at home.”
The cure isn’t more information about God, but communion with Him—repeatedly experiencing His nearness until our brains learn to rest in Him.
Practicing Prayer
This week, try the Please, Thank You, Yes prayer with one anxious thought or situation:
Please – “God, please take away this heaviness.”
Thank You – “Thank You for being with me right now, even when I can’t feel it.”
Yes – “Yes, I accept what You have not yet changed. I trust You to redeem this in Your time.”
You might find it helpful to write these prayers in a journal, or even speak them out loud in a quiet space.
Letting the peace of Christ rule in your heart isn’t about manufacturing calm or pretending everything is fine. It’s about creating space for God to take the umpire’s seat—bringing His steady presence into the control room of your mind.
Ask yourself:
Who’s been ruling in my inner control room lately—peace or anxiety?
How often am I returning to God as my secure base?
What would change if my first instinct in fear was to run to Him?
Patterns of worry form over time, and patterns of peace do too. This is slow, holy work—built through repeated return. Today, take one step closer to the One who calls you beloved, and let His peace make the final call.