The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?

by Rhett Smith

Is anxiety “un-Christian”? Many Christians believe the answer to this question is yes! Understandably, then, many Christians feel shame when they are anxious. They especially feel this shame when well-intentioned fellow believers dismiss or devalue anxiety with Christian platitudes and Bible verses. Rhett Smith, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, helps us understand anxiety in a new way. Rhett argues that, rather than being destructive or shameful, anxiety can be a catalyst for our spiritual growth. Using Biblical thinking and personal examples, Rhett explains how anxiety allows us to face our resistance and fears, understand where those fears come from, and then make intentional decisions about issues such as career, marriage, money, and our spiritual lives. Allow this book to challenge your view of anxiety, and allow God to use your anxiety for good.

Genres: Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction, Christian Living, Religion, Counselling, Christian Non Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2012

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Anxious Christian is written to assist readers in dealing with their anxious instead of hiding it and suppressing it. Rhett Smith begins the book on a personal note about the tragic events in his childhood that he encountered. When he was six years old, his mother felt a lump on her breast and it turned out to be breast cancer. The doctors said, “If she lives more than six more weeks, it would be a miracle”. She ended up living until Rhett was eleven years old. She fought long and hard for five years in trying to beat breast cancer. After she died, Rhett constantly lived with anxiety and panic and he desperately tried to remain in control. He struggled from compulsive habits and he was convinced that he had to touch door handles a number of times and count the number of tiles in a room. He also lost a grandmother and an aunt to breast cancer. He felt abandoned as a child and he began to withdraw and shut down where he could cope with his emotions and the pain he endure. He went to the extreme in order to manage his stress levels and he believed that if he did this no one else would die in his life. Before his mother died, he had no trouble in reading aloud in class. But after he lost his mother, he became fearful that when he was called upon he refused to read and his name was written down on the board for punishment. He also admitted that he had trouble with stuttering and he didn’t want others to see him as weak, inadequacy, and not good enough. These feelings continued to be an enormous deciding factor in his life.

Rhett Smith revealed his fears about public speaking and his stuttering. He prayed to God for guidance and courage and an opportunity to speak. God heard his prayers and God initiated and opened doors where he could move forward. He was tempted to run back and hide but his anxiety became the catalyst for change. God has used his anxiety to remind Rhett to remain connected and depend on Christ for strength. We can’t always stay comfortable and play safe and stuck in life, many times we have to take a risk and move where God is leading us.

This book has immensely helped me realize and exposed the fears and anxiety that I struggle with in my own life. Some of my fears and concerns are: What will I major in college? What state do I want to live in? Will I ever maintain a long term relationship? Will I get married? Will I have children? What if I don’t get married and I still want kids? Can I overcome the odds and adopt as a single man? What if I’m not a virtuous husband and father? What if we can’t conceive a child? What if I lose my wife or we lose a child? What if my wife cheats on me and becomes pregnant by another man? Will our marriage make it through the storms of life? What if I compromise on my morals and core values and I marry the wrong person? What if I fall into temptation and I don’t continue to save myself for marriage? What if I’m clueless and nervous the first time together on our wedding night? As, we can all see with my extensive list this book was written for people like me!

One of my favorite chapters was, “Getting Intentional”. This chapter taught me a lot about how married couples tend to blame each other for their own problems instead of working with God to change them and taking responsibility for their own actions. The chapter main verse was, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27). He breaks down the meaning of heart, soul, strength, mind, and loving yourself where you can love others. This conveyed to me the area where I have been struggling with the hardest in my many fears. I haven’t been loving myself the way Christ has intended me to. You can’t give away love to others if you don’t love yourself completely like Christ does.

I would recommend this magnificent book on handling your anxiety to anyone who has countless things they worry about and the fear is hindering them from becoming the man or woman God has designed them to be. This book is prodigious for teenagers, young college students, and adults and it will help them in whatever transition they are in. I especially loved how vulnerable Rhett Smith was in revealing his own personal fears. He feared public speaking, stuttering, being a good father, what jobs positions to take, and some other fears. This is a superb resource to help readers during their numerous transitions throughout their life stages. I wish this book would have been released when I struggled with sleeping when I first began college. It would have dramatically benefited me during my biggest anxiety. The book was still a gigantic blessing in my current fears and worries. It has many practical questions and activities to be completed at the end of each chapter and it has a very obliging prayer to pray to our loving Creator. It has personally imparted me with the wisdom to overcome my what if questions and my several worries and concerns. I must depend on God fully and completely whenever I struggle with having anxiety. If you’re longing to get unstuck in your fears and worries, and wanting freedom that is found in Christ, then this book will vastly benefit you in your journey!

"I received this book free from the publisher through the Moody Publishers book review bloggers program."

[Amanda E. (aebooksandwords) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?” is by Rhett Smith, a Christian therapist with training from Fuller Seminary and experience as a pastor and counselor.

Reminding us that anxiety can take many forms (e.g. fear, stress, dread), this book helps us see how anxiety propels us to take action in our lives. Instead of letting condemnation keep us in shame, we can take inventory to uncover what God might be pinpointing in our lives or relationships.

“Anxiety keeps us in pursuit of God. We are too tempted to not seek after God when we think we have life figured out. But anxiety is God’s way of encouraging us to not rest confidently in our own selves.”

Perhaps our anxiety is God’s way of nudging us to make a change or take steps that will bring transformation. Is it because a situation needs addressing, a decision needs making, or boundaries need setting? Maybe we’re taking on too much.

I was amazed at the depth and range of insight covered by this book. Even the included footnotes contained a lot of helpful wisdom. I’m not sure I’ve read another like it on the topic and definitely recommend it!

Highlights:

“Kierkegaard referred to anxiety as our ‘best teacher’ because of its ability to keep us in a struggle that strives for a solution…”

“Anxiety can often indicate to us that there is something constructive happening within us, beckoning us to follow it in order that our lives may be transformed.”

“We send messages all the time to one another as Christians that we intend to be helpful, but if we are not careful, what we end up doing instead is shaming people and driving them into believing that something is wrong with them.”

“Maybe anxiety is God’s way to make us uncomfortable so that we just don’t continue being content with where we are, always in search of what is most comfortable for us?”

Total: 4.5 ⭐️

Readability: 4
Impact: 5
Content: 4
Enjoyment: 5

Thank you to Moody Publishers for gifting me a copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily and was not required to leave a positive review. All opinions are my own.

[Matthew Popish · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book had a good premise but seemed all over the place at times. I wish it would have discussed more about how having anxiety didn't make you any less of a Christian. Also, I think biblically, it would have been better to discuss giving anxiety over to God in order to overcome the feelings of anxiety rather than trying to figure out how to use it for your good. The chapter on intentionality was well written with lots of good practical examples. I just wish it was written a little tighter.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little explanation for rating a book I found valuable only 3 stars:

First, it doesn’t go very deep.

Second, while I actually enjoyed the quotes from all the other authors (they give me sources to pursue and show that Smith is well-read and can see relationships between ideas), it seemed like he didn’t have much original thought on anxiety. It was more like he organized other people’s thoughts but didn’t progress beyond them to his own ideas.

Third, the editing was fair at best. There were several paragraphs where I thought, “He just reworded the same sentence three different ways.”

Fourth, and this is related to editing, the organization was messy. It seemed like Smith would outline a chapter, go through those points, and then realize he had some leftovers or freebies. And these would be mixed in all over, not even grouped neatly at the end. Argh.

Having said all that, the book was valuable for me because it was my first exposure to Christian writing on anxiety. If you’re like me and just dipping your toes in the waters of Christian psychology, this book is a friendly read.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent. Rather than provide typical “Christian” culture answers to anxiety like “pray more” or “trust God more,” Rhett Smith takes a look at how God can use anxiety for good in our lives. He presents a beautiful, hopeful picture of the good that can come from anxiety by asking what God wants us to learn/how He wants us to grow from our anxiety. He provides an encouraging view and tangible, practical steps we can take to grow through our anxiety. I especially loved the chapter “Relational Refinement.” I will say this was a tough read- especially at the beginning as he detailed his mom’s passing from breast cancer and his experience of that as a child (which triggered his struggle with anxiety). Also, just thinking of anxiety as a thing to not just suppress/defeat provoked anxiety in me! But, it was well-worth pushing through and I think is a worthwhile read for any Christian struggling with anxiety who is willing to consider facing the real, underlying issues and to fight for growth through the pain.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was only middle of the road for me. There were some good parts, but the writing and editing of the book left things to be desired. I did appreciate the author being open with his own struggle with anxiety and how has learned to sense God's leading through it. I liked the questions and exercises at the end of each chapter. The writing was simplistic and I really wanted something deeper.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great. If you like Cloud & Townsend, you'll like this one. He so graciously challenges the predominant belief in Christian culture that something is wrong with you or your faith if you struggle with anxiety. A viewpoint I feel passionate about: he compels the reader to go further with those feelings and rethink them in terms of how God is using them for good. I didn't think I struggled at all with anxiety before reading this, but I was able to immediately apply many of his exercises from the end of the chapters in day-to-day situations in my life. It was both personal and practical. I think it would be a lot of fun to use in a small group setting or for a retreat.

[Harold Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?"

“Where should I go to college? Whom should I marry? Where should I look for work? What will my friends think?

In our journey of faith there are particular moments that produce a certain amount of anxiety. Often anxiety and/or worry has been looked upon as an "un-Christian" feeling to have. But The Anxious Christian conveys the message that anxiety can actually be helpful in our spiritual formation, and that God can use anxiety as a catalyst to move people forward in their life of faith. In that movement, anxiety's gift is that it allows us to face our resistance and fears, understand where those fears come from, and then make intentional choices about important issues such as career, marriage, money, and our spiritual lives. It's time to get unstuck.

It is quite common in the Christian life that when someone mentions they are experiencing anxiety, they are often dismissed and devalued by what are often well-intentioned Christian platitudes and Bible quoting. But this dismissal of anxiety often produces shame in the individual, driving their anxiety into hiding where it can do more damage. Let's re-think our shame in this area by planting the seed that anxiety in our lives can be a catalyst for growth that moves us closer to who God created us to be.” (From the Moody Publishers Website)

About the Author:
RHETT SMITH is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in private practice at Auxano Counseling in Plano, TX. He is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary (MDiv, MSMFT) and former college pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Rhett has a passion for helping people navigate significant areas of transition in their lives such as parenting, marriage, and the adolescent to young adult journey. He also serves on staff at The Hideaway Experience in Amarillo, TX where he helps couples work towards having great marriages. Rhett lives in Frisco, TX with his wife Heather and their two children. You can find out more about Rhett at his blog www.rhettsmith.com or his counseling practice www.rhettsmithcounseling.com.

My Thoughts About the Book: For Christians enduring and suffering with anxiety, counselor and author Rhett Smith, has written a most insightful and helpful book to help better understand anxiety from a God perspective as well as what we can do to live with it. As someone who lives with 2 brain tumors and am disabled by them as well as having experienced more traumatic events over the course of a few years than most people ever go through in their lifetime, I can attest to what it is like to “live” with anxiety. My youngest son also suffers – and he does suffer terribly – from anxiety along with 4 other emotionally debilitating conditions. So, I know a thing or two about anxiety and I also know a good book about the subject when I see one…and Rhett Smith’s book is definitely a good one. And to those of you people, professing Christians included, who have never experienced severe and life affecting anxiety and who like to say with a smirk on your smug, self-righteous face, “It’s all in our heads,” you are right. It is in our heads and it is just as real, as painful and as challenging to live with as a host of other real human/medical conditions. So before you judge, condemn or try to “fix” us, learn about us and what it is like to live with and experience anxiety in our lives.

Author Rhett Smith poses and answers the question with his book, “Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?” You bet he can and he does. He has in my life as well as in the lives of countless people around the world who trust him enough to allow him to use it for our good and his great glory. And author Smith makes the same claim in his book. Maybe not in those exact same words but the message he communicates in his book is a resounding message that God can and does use anxiety in the Christian’s life for good. You probably wonder how God could do that. Well, the good news is that because Rhett is a Christian and a Bible-Centered counselor he has the knowledge, wisdom and experience to answer that question for us and he does an admirable job doing so in his book.

Author Smith begins his book in Chapter 1 by encouraging us to “Embrace Anxiety.” I know the idea sounds strange and maybe even preposterous but it is true. In order to live with or find healing from a condition such as Anxiety you must first acknowledge and embrace it. In the introduction of his book and 1st Chapter of his book he shares candidly from his own painful life experiences growing up including “the day he became a stutterer.” It was after his mother died when he was just eleven years old. My heart broke and I wept as I read the story of as how he writes it “That was the day that anxiety became a permanent travel partner on my life journey. After my mom died, life would never be the same.” And that resonates with me deeply in my soul as I can relate to the day Anxiety and experiencing “Dark Nights of the Soul” became as commonplace to me as breathing and eating. And in Chapter 1 he writes about how we hide in shame because of how we feel. Talk about real and up close and personal. At the end of the chapter he helps us by asking us some discussion questions (if we are in a group setting working through the book), however as individuals we can read the questions and answer them. He also gives us some exercises to do and I am not referring to push ups or working out for an hour on a treadmill in case you are allergic to exercise and sweating like I am…only kidding. No, the exercises he offers are ones to help us better understand ourselves and our anxiety and then encourages us to share how we feel with another person. He then concludes the chapter with a short prayer. He does that in each chapter of the book so this is a very practical book to read to be sure.

In the remaining chapters of his book, author Smith shares a large number of appropriate Scriptures to help guide us as well as from the experiences of not only himself and his family but also from others who have suffered with anxiety so we can learn about and from them. It helps us greatly to learn and understand that WE ARE NOT ALONE in our struggle nor are we less than as people because we do. We are all different as individuals; however, for those of us who live with anxiety, we know and can relate to the talk because we ourselves walk the walk living with it.

In Chapter 2 he writes about “Welcoming Uncertainty.” We might just as well welcome uncertainty and get used to it because it is going to occur in our lives. He reveals some helpful insights about what it means to welcome uncertainty in our lives as well as some possible Biblical and practical steps we can take to welcome and cope with it. Chapter 5, “Wrestling With God,” and Chapter 6, “Becoming Intentional” really resonated with me. Chapter 5 because I get it about wrestling with God – not perfectly to be sure, but enough that I get it and know what to do in regards to wrestling with God if I need to. And Chapter 6 as well as “Getting Intentional” about anxiety is a major healing step in the dealing with and living life more abundantly with anxiety. And you can. But author Smith informs us of what we need to do to get there. It is not an easy journey but it does begin with just one step. In Chapter 6 he writes about the importance and necessity of creating appropriate boundaries for ourselves as we live with anxiety. Chapter 7 is about our personal relationships with others – how to live around others when we have anxiety. There is some really good information to read and consider in these chapters that is very practical and helpful to us. He then writes more about his living as a stutterer and what he did that God used greatly to help him and transform his life forever. The appendix is the “Reaching For Help” resource area of the book. In this chapter author Smith writes about seeking help, what effective therapy is and about the use of medications to treat anxiety. What he writes is not only beneficial but also encouraging.

So, if you are living with and suffering from anxiety I would encourage you to buy Rhett Smith’s book, turn the light on in the room of your house and life, open the curtains or blinds and let some natural sunlight come into your life AND open your eyes and heart to the spiritual truths and practical suggestions he offers in his book so that the “Sonlight, ” (Jesus Christ), can also enter your life, transforming you into the person God has created you to be, that he longs you to be and the author and I know you can be.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book at no cost from the Inside Pages Bloggers Program/Moody Publishers for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Moody Publishers.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

The subtitle of this book rather gives the game away.  The obvious answer to its question, for those who have read and believe Romans 8:28, is that God can use our anxiety for good.  God can use all kinds of things for good that are not good--rape and murder come to mind, along with other horrible things--and the fact that the author asks if God can use the raw materials of our psyche for good is rather begging the question.  Of course God can use the way we are and what we experience for good.  Does it mean that such things themselves are good?  Not necessarily.  This is not a book that views the anxiety of a Christian as a good thing, per se, but rather starts from the true assumption that many Christians, myself included [1], are anxious people and then explores how God can use that for good in our lives and in our world.  This is not a book that speaks of ideals as much as it does the real, and remembering that allows one to appreciate it if you happen to be an anxious Christian as many people are.

The book takes about 200 pages to deal with the author's points about anxiety.  The eight chapters of this book are bookended with a discussion about the author's stuttering--when it began and how the author lives life with his struggle.  In between the author discusses the way that believers should embrace anxiety and welcome uncertainty and avoid being caught in a rut.  Our anxiety tells us we are on unsafe ground, and that can lead us to grow if we persist in anxiety until we reach the desired end.  The author reimagines anxiety as a way that God can improve our lives through taking risks and building faith and trust, and discusses the way that many believers wrestle with God as Jacob did so long ago.  The author talks about the need to live intentionally and not merely by unconscious habit as it is so easy to do.  After that the last two chapters look at the need for believers to set and live by godly boundaries as well as refine and improve relationships rather than keeping people at arms length merely because they are difficult to deal with.

There is a lot to praise in this book.  Clearly this is an author who speaks from experience about his struggle with anxiety and his fears about the women of his life dying as so many did during his youth from breast cancer.  The author clearly wishes to justify his own decisions to embrace therapy (even with non-Christian therapists) and to embrace medicinal treatment for his condition and urges that on others, and there are some who will find this approach a bit uncomfortable.  The author clearly approaches, if not cross altogether, the line between description and prescription in areas where there is considerable debate and disagreement about matters of mental health.  Thankfully, though, the book avoids becoming a whiny ragamuffin gospel with efforts of self-justification that remove all pleasure or all moral responsibility from the book.  This is a book to handle with care, but one to read for encouragement if you happen to be a person who is already clinically anxious.  This is not a book about anxiety as an absence of trust in God, as many anti-anxiety books are, but rather a book about how one deals with anxiety as a clinical condition as a believer, which is something that all too many people have a great deal of experience with.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[Natalie Shawver · Rating 3 out of 5]

By nature, I'm an anxious person. It runs in my family. Some say that having anxiety means you care too much (about people, your day, your life). Let's go with that for positivity's sake.

Rhett Smith shares his struggles with anxiety in The Anxious Christian. Losing his mother at a young age to cancer meant early onset anxiety for him, always wondering if he'd be abandoned in life and struggling to create close relationships. For him, anxiety exhibited itself in the form of a stutter and a crippling fear of speaking in public (which, for a minister, you can imagine is extra challenging). Smith takes us through his challenges and the way his faith helped him overcome. He stressed the point that perhaps God could use his fear for good ... if we only allow Him to take charge and if we get out of our own way and let Him do His thing.

This specific passage struck me, especially given the world we live in right now and the ongoing arguments surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and the accompanying fear of the virus itself. He speaks of depression, but this notion can be applied to anything in our lives:

"Depression should be treated and can be put into remission through a course of psychoanalysis, cognitive therapy and/or antidepressant medication, supplemented by a healthy dose of prayer within a loving Christian community. It is nonsensical to tell a depressed person that if he only read his Bible more or had better quiet times, his depression would surely be lifted. That would be like telling a diabetic that faith alone will regulate his insulin levels. Faith alone gives eternal salvation, but in the meantime, God has given us resources by which to make our temporal existences more palatable. Depression is certainly healed by the grace of God, sometimes directly and miraculously, but more often through the tools of His servants, like pharmacists, therapists, pastors and friends."

The other aspect of the book I connected with strongly was defense of Christians who seek out therarpy or medication for anxiety. There is a notion that because you are a Christ-follower that you should handle anxiety, depression, etc. on your own and don't need the assistance of anyone or anything. It is my firm belief that this couldn't be further from the truth, as described above in Smith's quote. Having gone to therapy over the course of my life and having been on anxiety medication myself, I know the impact it can have and the help it can provide. I choose to believe that God used my theparist (a Christ-follower herself) and the medication (which He inspired to create) to help me in my times of need. Just because you may define yourself as a Christian doesn't mean you can't turn to to the world (with His direction/guidance) for help now and again ... the Creator created it after all. I know deep in my heart that doctors and scientists are able to do what they do because the Lord has given them the ability. He's still my #1, though.

Smith's book raises some strong and valid points, points that I have found myself pondering and will continue to carry with me. I can't say that this book would be incredibly impactful to someone in the midst of a struggle, though. Maybe. But it wasn't ... empathetic enough for me? I don't know. Hard to explain. I think it's best read when you have your head above water and may face a challenge in the future. Lots of empowering chapters and tools to use.

[Sarah Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very skeptical of this book at first; I kind of felt like the author was saying that it was ok to be anxious and that it wasn't a sin. However, I think that my definition of anxiety is giving into the temptation to be anxious; and Rhett's definition of anxiety is the temptation itself. In light of that, this was a very helpful book in learning how to process anxiety, what it can manifest itself as, and biblical ways to combat it. He talks about fighting anxiety in your prayer life, how anxiety can cause distance in relationships, and the power of thankfulness in combating anxiety.

Additionally, I will add that you might not feel like you struggle with anxiety. But I do think every believer (and every human....if you're actually human) will struggle with anxiety even if it may remain unnamed. It is important to recognize and acknowledge it so you can fight against it and stop allowing it to have a place in your life!

[Isaac Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Offers a perspective on anxiety that I had not heard before. Views anxiety not as something to fear or to push down, but to let it rise and allow it to show us areas of our life that we need to trust God. Anxiety is an invitation for us to press in deeper in our walk with the Lord and with others. It is not something we should be ashamed of, but something we should acknowledge and allow it to be a tool for us to grow.

[Candace Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not recommend this book enough! There were many moments when I underlined a passage and agreed audibly with its point. This book showed me that anxiety can propel me towards the arms of Christ and gift me to point others towards Him. It affirmed my experience with therapy and taught me to repurpose my anxiety.

[Rachel L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a helpful look at anxiety in the life of a Christian. Very different from the “just don’t be anxious” message and I found it helpful. I’ll make my highlights visible in case anyone wants to take a quick look. (His anxiety tends to focus more on decision-making, so it wasn’t directly applicable to anxiety relating to, say, catastrophic events, but it was still helpful.)

[Kim Sutphen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve come to know the author through the Restoration Therapy counseling world. So when I saw he had authored a book I wanted to read it. I appreciate this book so much. I didn’t know whether to categorize it in my library as Faith or Counseling because it is both. He relates his journey of anxiety as a believer so well. I recommend this for counselors and those believers battling anxiety.

[Danny Lamonte · Rating 5 out of 5]

safe & seen

That’s how this book made me feel… not alone but part of a community of Christians wanting to know God but letting anxiety hold me back. What if my anxiety wasn’t crippling but compelling and calling me to conform to Christ?

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would recommend to anyone who is dealing with anxiety. This is a book that I will read many more times and recommend to others. (I've already recommended it multiple times.)

[Holly Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. How much this would have helped me in my 20s!!

[Melissa Scruggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for anyone who was told that your anxiety was from weak faith.

[Leslie Fetterly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a quick read. I do personally struggle quite a bit with anxiety and was hoping to come away with more than I did. I agree with what the author says about the way the church often handles anxiety. It isn't anything that just be prayed away, and I do believe that the Lord can use anxiety for our good. Still, the advice given seemed to apply more to general worry than true anxiety at its core to me. That could just be for my own personal experience with it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have struggled with anxiety for most of my life. When I was 9 years old, I was with my grandparents when my grandfather had an abdominal aortic aneurism and passed away. This event was a turning point in my life which altered how I looked at life and circumstances. It left me reeling, and I began to worry constantly about loved ones dying, picturing the horrific events that could happen.

I shared my “worrying problem” with a trusted person in my church and was told that this was sinful because I wasn’t trusting God enough. This caused me to feel ashamed and frustrated with myself. Prayer has helped my anxiety to a large extent but I have “flare ups” where it gets difficult to deal with.

One such “flare up” occurred when my dad had a lung transplant in 2015. After the surgery, I had a panic attack. I was struggling to function properly at work and wanted to stay home all the time. At that point I decided to share my problems with my doctor, who prescribed medication for my anxiety and referred me to a therapist.

I struggled a lot with the medication because, as a Christian, I felt like I was giving up on God and relying on medicine instead. I had family members who were not happy with me taking the medicine because they didn’t like that it altered brain chemistry.

All of this was said to show that this book was a breath of fresh air for me. Anxiety is something that still has negative connotations, like many mental health disorders, especially in the church. I have rarely or never seen anyone ask for prayer for their anxiety or depression but every week, people ask for prayer for broken bones or flus or other physical ailments.

The author, Rhett Smith doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. He also has dealt with anxiety and he explains how it can be used for good. I found myself with tears in my eyes as I read this book because there have been moments since I was told that my worrying was sinful when I’ve said to my husband, “why did God make me this way?”

Reading this book helped me to see that God used my anxiety to get the help I needed. Since seeing my therapist and taking my medication (and praying daily, giving all my worries to God), my anxiety has greatly decreased. It still rears it’s ugly head from time to time, but this book has shown me that perhaps it’s God’s way of speaking to me, showing me that I need to take action in some area of my life.

I highly, highly recommend this book to my anxious Christian friends out there. It would make a great Bible study group read as well.

My Rating: 5 stars

I received this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author had some helpful points and ideas. But I didn't like the format of the book, which was more quoting other people's ideas and information rather than presenting his own.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated the author's emphasis on the importance of dealing with our personal issues. What I had trouble accepting was his idea that anxiety is given by God to grow us. Nowhere does the Bible speak of anxiety in a positive light and I just can't see God giving us the "gift" of anxiety and then telling us not to be anxious.

Will God use our anxiety for good if we love Him and give Him the freedom to do so? Absolutely! He'll use anything. But that is very different from the idea of Him creating us with a disposition toward anxiety.

Humans have a problem that we want to see ourselves in a positive light and so we try to minimize the fact that the type of anxiety emphasized in this book is rooted in fear--and, therefore, sin. To me, the answer isn't to soften our innate human problems but to create a loving, supportive environment in which we can be free to address our struggles without being condemned by other Christians. Thankfully, he does place a strong emphasis on the second half of the equation.

My overall rating would be 3.5 stars if it were possible.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

The single most important aspect of this book is the author's use of personal experience to begin to remove the stigma of mental health issues within the church. Having suffered from mental health issues since adolescence, this book drew me in. Having participated in Christian communities and read Christian books that attempted to define my mental health issues as a simple lack of faith, this book was refreshing in its honesty and compassion. There are a lot of activities throughout the book, and I did the first several chapters' worth but when I realized I was avoiding the book because I didn't have time for the activities, I stopped doing them. They are useful but cannot replace a therapist, and I think the author would agree. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone beginning the journey of recovery and wants to know where to start and some reassurance they aren't alone.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Anxious Christian : Can God Use Your Anxiety For Good? by Rhett Smith starts out with the author telling of his own anxiety when younger, and how God uses it and him.

I've always thought badly of my anxiety but the author has given me hope with this book, and how God can use me.

One of my favorite quotes from the book says...
"It is ok to be anxious, but don't hide and bury those anxieties in hopes that they may somehow get better or completely disappear. They won't. Instead, choose to face them and allow God to grow you in the process. It is an act of courage you will not regret." page 88

Doesn't that say a lot? It has gave me hope that even though I have anxiety, God can still use me if I open up and let him guide me. I enjoyed reading and learning from this book and would recommend it to others who may also suffer from anxiety.

I received a free copy from Moody Publishers in exchange for my honest review of this book.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an important book! I appreciate how Rhett Smith brought Christian themes, his own personal experience with anxiety, and his professional experience as a therapist to unpack how anxiety can be a catalyst for spiritual growth. He provides great exercises and discussion questions at the end of each chapter to help readers dig deeper into their own anxiety. He also explores holistic ways to deal with/ protect oneself from anxiety including vulnerability within trusted community and becoming intentional rather than avoiding the root issues causing your anxiety. It was very helpful, easy-to-follow, and truth-filled.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short review: The most surprising thing about this book is that on the whole it takes a very positive view of anxiety. It understands that anxiety can become controlling and eventually lead to sin, but in general it believes that God uses anxiety to move us in directions that we do not always want to go. I realized through this book that I need to re-evaluate my understanding of anxiety and be more open to being moved by anxiety, instead of running away from it.

A longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/anxious-christian/

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Definitely something for me! Had a number of good points at which I thought, "Ah-ha!" However, a lot of fluff too. He didn't go into much detail on practical steps to take. He based most of his book on one type of anxiety, which will speak to some but not to others. At the very least, I was encouraged to see a Christian confronting anxiety head-on from a Christian perspective, without sermonizing and falling into the "Just trust God" trap.

[Deb Tieman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great concept to think that God uses anxiety to get my attention and that I need to rely on Him - rather than just thinking being anxious is sinful and I need to stop worrying.

Also, the author knows first-hand how crippling anxiety can be - and did a great job sharing his experiences with stuttering and overcoming his anxiety.

[Missy Jent watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a Christian battling anxiety and panic disorder along with depression. So I found this book right on and very helpful. So glad God lead me to this book and I will pass it on to others dealing with these same issues. I recommend anyone who knows someone dealing with these issues to read it too.