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Struck Down but Not Destroyed: Living Faithfully with Anxiety
A revolutionary approach to anxiety! A 12-year anxiety veteran offers wisdom, encouragement, and resources for anxious Christians. Do you struggle with anxiety or know someone who does? Award-winning Christian author Pierce Taylor Hibbs shows that we've been approaching our anxiety the wrong way. It's not a terror to avoid but a tool in God's hands. The author draws on his own experience in living with an anxiety disorder for over 12 years to present descriptions, theological discussion, and concrete resources for fellow anxiety sufferers. In Struck Down but Not Destroyed , you will learn how to . . . It's time for us to focus on the spiritual purposes God has for our anxiety. It's time for us to revel in the amazing truth that the best part of being struck down is realizing that we will never be destroyed, not with God on our side.
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READER COMMENTS
379 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
136 people are currently reading
310 people want to read
About the author
Pierce Taylor Hibbs
31 books34 followersPierce Taylor Hibbs is a wordsmith who builds things to bring readers closer to God. He's the award-winning author of Theological English, and has also written more popular works on theology such as Finding God in the Ordinary, The Speaking Trinity, and Struck Down but Not Destroyed: Living Faithfully with Anxiety. Download free ebooks and resources from piercetaylorhibbs.com.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 31, 2020
Great book with a good balance of the author’s personal experiences, Biblical perspective and practical wisdom regarding anxiety. I need to read it again and be able to really apply the principles to myself and also use them to encourage others with anxiety who are close to me.
November 16, 2022
After reading a few PTH books, he truly is becoming one of my favorite authors! I can also pretty confidently say this is the best book I’ve read on anxiety. Highly recommend!!
March 7, 2020
Interesting perspective. The author does not see anxiety so much as sin but rather as a weakness. Also, it did not seem as if it was written so much for people with mild anxiety or everyday worries, but rather more for someone who has a severe anxiety disorder and/or deals with panic attacks.
June 18, 2025
In my experience, there are at least two unhelpful responses to anxiety, and Pierce Taylor Hibbs addresses both in this excellent book. The first is specifically Christian, and that is to see anxiety purely in terms of sin and as something to be repented of. The author’s response to this is both nuanced and sensitive, as he begins by acknowledging that our sinful choices can and do contribute to our experience of anxiety. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis, God screams in our pain - and that can be a way to draw our attention to aspects of our life where we need to make changes, responding in repentance and faithful obedience. However, it is much too simplistic to draw a 1:1 connection between specific instances of suffering and specific sins. This approach also fails to take full account of both the effect of the fall on our bodies and of our experience of suffering generally. These points are particularly true concerning more pathological anxiety, which is often irrational, bewildering and not obviously connected to any specific circumstance in our lives. I think that Hibbs handles this topic very ably as he neither lets us off the hook for the sinful choices we make, nor does he heap on condemnation, implying that we must have done something wrong to bring anxiety on ourselves. A related incorrect assumption is that anxiety is something we can extinguish or eliminate through an effort of the will, but more on that later. The reality is that life is complex and often ambiguous, whether we have Christian faith or not.
The second unhelpful response, which isn't specifically Christian, sees anxiety as a problem to be solved. Hibbs' response to this is to ask us to see anxiety less as an intruder to be expelled from our lives, and more as an unwelcome guest who we need to learn to live with in the best possible way. This is probably the main theme of the book and strikes me as a balanced and helpful approach. He encourages us both to do what we can to take practical steps to manage or reduce anxiety while also being prepared to live with it over the long term.
This last point leads to an obvious question: What is God's purpose in allowing us to suffer like this? Hibbs response expands on the idea that anxiety is merely a problem to be solved, and he begins by re-framing our relationship with suffering: "To be okay is not to be free from all pain and suffering; it's to be free in all pain and suffering because you’re indwelt by Christ…in order to understand your being crushed and the purpose it serves, you have to know who God is and who you are…Why is God allowing you to be crushed by anxiety? The short answer: because he wants to communicate with you. He’s calling you."
Again, "As creatures of God in a fallen world, we find hope and healing through process and relationship. This is very clear throughout Scripture but very repulsive to twenty-first century problem solving, and to common medical treatments of anxiety today. We've noted already how the common approach to anxiety is to treat it as something to be gotten rid of, something to remove. In other words, it's most common to treat anxiety as a criminal, rather than a house guest…The long-term guest of anxiety is not in our lives by his own bidding. God is always using anxiety to build our relationship with him. In a myriad of ways, anxiety is always a tool in the hands of the triune God. That’s the refrain of this book."
And again, "for Christians, the purpose of all spiritual and physical suffering is conformity to Christ’s death and - through that alone - the ushering in of Christ’s resurrection life…Reverential fear of God is a biblical mandate. And when we experience something other than reverential fear, we can trust that God is using it as a spiritual directive, and that in the end he will destroy it."
In short, Christians are called to be hopeful sufferers. This leads into a consideration of the relationship between fear and faith, especially as it relates to anxiety. Specifically, Hibbs points out the inadequacy of a purely rational approach when it comes to dealing with anxiety and contends that we should "challenge any approach to anxiety that seems to ignore its spiritual purposes." He expands on this by explaining that, "The way of pure rationality is our attempt to use reason without any conscious regard for God's word. It's a use of reason that momentarily ignores God’s speech in an attempt to get rid of the fear, doubt, and physical oppression of anxiety…when rationality becomes the only approach we take to anxiety (pure rationality), the greater spiritual purposes that God has for us - i.e., fear and weakness serving as opportunities for Christ-conformity, anxiety working as a spiritual directive - are pushed out of the picture. We become rational calculators and assessors rather than servants of Christ who look at pain and adversity as tools in the hands of God. Our goal becomes pinpointing and eliminating anxiety, not prayerfully facing and using it…it's not just a matter of asking why; it's a matter of asking why in light of what we know about God’s purposes for our suffering - suffering as a spiritual directive, suffering as Christ conformity, suffering as a means for manifesting the resurrection life of God’s Son in our bodies."
Again, these are profoundly helpful insights. He concludes that, "Causality and reasoning are not evils; they are gifts from God and of great value. But to isolate those reasons from the greater spiritual purposes that God has for the details of our daily life is to do ourselves a great disservice and to ignore the most important events in world history: Christ's death and resurrection. When it comes down to it, reason is not the panacea for the soul; Christ is…If we're going to find ourselves in the Great Story, we need to find ourselves in the Great Story Teller."
The end goal is communion with God, and Hibbs unequivocally sees our anxiety as a means that God can and does use to make us more like himself, and thus fit us for communion with him. This is a hope-filled message, as it recognises the reality of our suffering (in this case with anxiety, but the same pattern applies to any suffering) while simultaneously refusing to see it as arbitrary or aimless. That seems like me to be a genuinely Christian understanding of and response to something like anxiety.
Another really helpful aspect of this book is that it's not merely theoretical; Hibbs isn't calling the reader to apply a lot of abstract principles. Rather, this is a personal account of the author’s own experience with anxiety, which means that it is consistently grounded in the practical realities of responding to and healthily managing anxiety. There were a number of points related to this that resonated with me. One is the need to take risks and avoid anxiety-fuelled patterns that we establish to keep ourselves safe, but which act as a leash. Another is the need to sit with anxiety, and even lean into it, rather than trying to suppress it. Yet another is the helpful reminder of the chasm that exists between being and feeling, and the tendency of the anxiety sufferer to conflate the two. He also provides practical and sensible advice on topics like medication and family life. As an example, here is how he begins his discussion of medication, "[the lack of faith approach and the idol approach] are the two most common harmful approaches to medication. Both are spiritually destructive. The first reduces the complexity of sin and suffering; the second reduces the glory and Lordship of God in our lives. We need a different approach, a balanced approach." That word, balanced, is how I would describe Hibb's approach throughout his book, and it is like a breath of fresh air.
In closing, I want to look again at the most helpful and important point that the author makes. He reminds us that while we may be afflicted, struck down and bewildered, we are not alone and cannot finally be destroyed by our anxiety. Anxiety does not have the final word in the life of the Christian, and that simple truth is a huge encouragement both to sufferers and their loved ones: "You can say with every rough patch of anxiety, 'I'm struck down but not destroyed.’ And that little truth isn’t just a fact; it's an encouragement. Once we're struck down, we're in the perfect position to hear God's voice, to trust in his words, and to walk in the newness of life he’s set aside for us (Rom. 6:4)."
Whether you suffer with anxiety yourself or have a loved one who does, I recommend this book wholeheartedly.
The second unhelpful response, which isn't specifically Christian, sees anxiety as a problem to be solved. Hibbs' response to this is to ask us to see anxiety less as an intruder to be expelled from our lives, and more as an unwelcome guest who we need to learn to live with in the best possible way. This is probably the main theme of the book and strikes me as a balanced and helpful approach. He encourages us both to do what we can to take practical steps to manage or reduce anxiety while also being prepared to live with it over the long term.
This last point leads to an obvious question: What is God's purpose in allowing us to suffer like this? Hibbs response expands on the idea that anxiety is merely a problem to be solved, and he begins by re-framing our relationship with suffering: "To be okay is not to be free from all pain and suffering; it's to be free in all pain and suffering because you’re indwelt by Christ…in order to understand your being crushed and the purpose it serves, you have to know who God is and who you are…Why is God allowing you to be crushed by anxiety? The short answer: because he wants to communicate with you. He’s calling you."
Again, "As creatures of God in a fallen world, we find hope and healing through process and relationship. This is very clear throughout Scripture but very repulsive to twenty-first century problem solving, and to common medical treatments of anxiety today. We've noted already how the common approach to anxiety is to treat it as something to be gotten rid of, something to remove. In other words, it's most common to treat anxiety as a criminal, rather than a house guest…The long-term guest of anxiety is not in our lives by his own bidding. God is always using anxiety to build our relationship with him. In a myriad of ways, anxiety is always a tool in the hands of the triune God. That’s the refrain of this book."
And again, "for Christians, the purpose of all spiritual and physical suffering is conformity to Christ’s death and - through that alone - the ushering in of Christ’s resurrection life…Reverential fear of God is a biblical mandate. And when we experience something other than reverential fear, we can trust that God is using it as a spiritual directive, and that in the end he will destroy it."
In short, Christians are called to be hopeful sufferers. This leads into a consideration of the relationship between fear and faith, especially as it relates to anxiety. Specifically, Hibbs points out the inadequacy of a purely rational approach when it comes to dealing with anxiety and contends that we should "challenge any approach to anxiety that seems to ignore its spiritual purposes." He expands on this by explaining that, "The way of pure rationality is our attempt to use reason without any conscious regard for God's word. It's a use of reason that momentarily ignores God’s speech in an attempt to get rid of the fear, doubt, and physical oppression of anxiety…when rationality becomes the only approach we take to anxiety (pure rationality), the greater spiritual purposes that God has for us - i.e., fear and weakness serving as opportunities for Christ-conformity, anxiety working as a spiritual directive - are pushed out of the picture. We become rational calculators and assessors rather than servants of Christ who look at pain and adversity as tools in the hands of God. Our goal becomes pinpointing and eliminating anxiety, not prayerfully facing and using it…it's not just a matter of asking why; it's a matter of asking why in light of what we know about God’s purposes for our suffering - suffering as a spiritual directive, suffering as Christ conformity, suffering as a means for manifesting the resurrection life of God’s Son in our bodies."
Again, these are profoundly helpful insights. He concludes that, "Causality and reasoning are not evils; they are gifts from God and of great value. But to isolate those reasons from the greater spiritual purposes that God has for the details of our daily life is to do ourselves a great disservice and to ignore the most important events in world history: Christ's death and resurrection. When it comes down to it, reason is not the panacea for the soul; Christ is…If we're going to find ourselves in the Great Story, we need to find ourselves in the Great Story Teller."
The end goal is communion with God, and Hibbs unequivocally sees our anxiety as a means that God can and does use to make us more like himself, and thus fit us for communion with him. This is a hope-filled message, as it recognises the reality of our suffering (in this case with anxiety, but the same pattern applies to any suffering) while simultaneously refusing to see it as arbitrary or aimless. That seems like me to be a genuinely Christian understanding of and response to something like anxiety.
Another really helpful aspect of this book is that it's not merely theoretical; Hibbs isn't calling the reader to apply a lot of abstract principles. Rather, this is a personal account of the author’s own experience with anxiety, which means that it is consistently grounded in the practical realities of responding to and healthily managing anxiety. There were a number of points related to this that resonated with me. One is the need to take risks and avoid anxiety-fuelled patterns that we establish to keep ourselves safe, but which act as a leash. Another is the need to sit with anxiety, and even lean into it, rather than trying to suppress it. Yet another is the helpful reminder of the chasm that exists between being and feeling, and the tendency of the anxiety sufferer to conflate the two. He also provides practical and sensible advice on topics like medication and family life. As an example, here is how he begins his discussion of medication, "[the lack of faith approach and the idol approach] are the two most common harmful approaches to medication. Both are spiritually destructive. The first reduces the complexity of sin and suffering; the second reduces the glory and Lordship of God in our lives. We need a different approach, a balanced approach." That word, balanced, is how I would describe Hibb's approach throughout his book, and it is like a breath of fresh air.
In closing, I want to look again at the most helpful and important point that the author makes. He reminds us that while we may be afflicted, struck down and bewildered, we are not alone and cannot finally be destroyed by our anxiety. Anxiety does not have the final word in the life of the Christian, and that simple truth is a huge encouragement both to sufferers and their loved ones: "You can say with every rough patch of anxiety, 'I'm struck down but not destroyed.’ And that little truth isn’t just a fact; it's an encouragement. Once we're struck down, we're in the perfect position to hear God's voice, to trust in his words, and to walk in the newness of life he’s set aside for us (Rom. 6:4)."
Whether you suffer with anxiety yourself or have a loved one who does, I recommend this book wholeheartedly.
October 22, 2025
“We will speak with the Father and his every providential detail, the depths of his love, the mysteries of his kindness. We’ll talk of sanctity and sacrifice, of the measure of might, of gratitude and giving. From our side, there will be a whole lot more listening than speaking, but there will be conversation. There will be communion. That’s what we were made for.
Wie’l speak with the Son and his constant, ever present communication with God‘s people. We’ll talk of blood and burdens, of the weight of obedience, of grace and the greenery of faith. He will have more words for us than there are drops of water in the seven seas, and will hang on every one of them absorbing every syllable of serenity.
We’ll speak with the Spirit and how his mere presence is peace. We’ll talk of silence and seasons, of the powers of patient, of comfort and control. There will be pauses between the discourse, to – time for us to just process the depth and delirious joy we have in the Spirit of God!
Right now, on the side of eternity, our communion with God comes through speech too. But it’s intermittent. We’re too easily distracted. We don’t hear God‘s voice because we don’t read his word, and when we do, we don’t meditate on it; we don’t rest our souls on it for long enough. We don’t speak back because we don’t pray, especially in busy seasons. And the older we get, the more we realize that there are no busy seasons. Life in general is just busy. In the chapter on prayer, I noted that Martin Luther is said to have told others that he was so busy at one point in his life that he had to pray for three hours a day instead of one. Oh how I wish that were our habit! My prayer now is that you and I would pray more as times seem tighter that we long for God so badly in the midst of our turmoil that we seek out his wings and hold them down in front of us, and just stay in his shadows.” (Pg. 222-223)
Wie’l speak with the Son and his constant, ever present communication with God‘s people. We’ll talk of blood and burdens, of the weight of obedience, of grace and the greenery of faith. He will have more words for us than there are drops of water in the seven seas, and will hang on every one of them absorbing every syllable of serenity.
We’ll speak with the Spirit and how his mere presence is peace. We’ll talk of silence and seasons, of the powers of patient, of comfort and control. There will be pauses between the discourse, to – time for us to just process the depth and delirious joy we have in the Spirit of God!
Right now, on the side of eternity, our communion with God comes through speech too. But it’s intermittent. We’re too easily distracted. We don’t hear God‘s voice because we don’t read his word, and when we do, we don’t meditate on it; we don’t rest our souls on it for long enough. We don’t speak back because we don’t pray, especially in busy seasons. And the older we get, the more we realize that there are no busy seasons. Life in general is just busy. In the chapter on prayer, I noted that Martin Luther is said to have told others that he was so busy at one point in his life that he had to pray for three hours a day instead of one. Oh how I wish that were our habit! My prayer now is that you and I would pray more as times seem tighter that we long for God so badly in the midst of our turmoil that we seek out his wings and hold them down in front of us, and just stay in his shadows.” (Pg. 222-223)
February 4, 2021
This is the most helpful, biblical, hopeful, clear, practical book on anxiety I have ever come across. A Godsend!
January 10, 2022
This is a solidly Biblical, theologically sound book about how to live as a Christian with anxiety.
The first thing to note about this book is that when it talks about “anxiety,” it is not talking about the ordinary cares and worries of human life in a fallen world. It’s specifically talking about a form of mental illness, an anxiety disorder, which Hibbs approaches as a particular form of weakness and suffering.
Hibbs takes a balanced and holistic approach to anxiety: he recognizes it as a physical/genetic problem, and he commends doctors, medications, diet, exercise, and sleep as important tools for managing one’s condition, but his main focus in the book is on the spiritual impact the condition has on the believer, and on sorting through the questions that arise as a result: How should I approach anxiety? How does God use an anxiety disorder for my good? How does faith interact with fear? How can I deal with my anxiety biblically within marriage, or as a parent?
Each chapter of the book contains a Scripture focus, a section on theology (because in order to interpret one’s own personal experiences correctly, one needs to see the big picture), and a section concerning the author’s own experiences, with helpful practical suggestions. Also, each chapter ends with reflection questions and a written prayer. The main message of the book is: “anxiety is a spiritual tool in the hands of a mighty God.” This message is reinforced in every chapter—which could expose the author to the charge of being repetitive, but it’s a message that is counterintuitive and counter-cultural, so it bears repeating.
For those who struggle with this issue and are concerned about how to honor the Lord and faithfully follow his word in their lives, or for those who are seeking to support someone who’s struggling in this way, this book is incredibly helpful and insightful. I heartily recommend it.
The first thing to note about this book is that when it talks about “anxiety,” it is not talking about the ordinary cares and worries of human life in a fallen world. It’s specifically talking about a form of mental illness, an anxiety disorder, which Hibbs approaches as a particular form of weakness and suffering.
Hibbs takes a balanced and holistic approach to anxiety: he recognizes it as a physical/genetic problem, and he commends doctors, medications, diet, exercise, and sleep as important tools for managing one’s condition, but his main focus in the book is on the spiritual impact the condition has on the believer, and on sorting through the questions that arise as a result: How should I approach anxiety? How does God use an anxiety disorder for my good? How does faith interact with fear? How can I deal with my anxiety biblically within marriage, or as a parent?
Each chapter of the book contains a Scripture focus, a section on theology (because in order to interpret one’s own personal experiences correctly, one needs to see the big picture), and a section concerning the author’s own experiences, with helpful practical suggestions. Also, each chapter ends with reflection questions and a written prayer. The main message of the book is: “anxiety is a spiritual tool in the hands of a mighty God.” This message is reinforced in every chapter—which could expose the author to the charge of being repetitive, but it’s a message that is counterintuitive and counter-cultural, so it bears repeating.
For those who struggle with this issue and are concerned about how to honor the Lord and faithfully follow his word in their lives, or for those who are seeking to support someone who’s struggling in this way, this book is incredibly helpful and insightful. I heartily recommend it.
April 2, 2020
A helpful read. Obviously, anyone would get rid of anxiety if they could. But what if we saw anxiety less as a problem to be solved, and moreso as a guest (potentially long-term) which is being used by God to shape us? Hibbs does not deny or reduce to value of other strategies of dealing with anxiety, but ultimately orients at the issue from an theological angle. He comes from the vantage point of a more extreme case of anxiety, but his approach is broadly applicable.
March 26, 2024
Highly recommend this book! Even if you don’t struggle with anxiety (although don’t we all to some degree or another), this has so many gems of wisdom throughout it. This will definitely be one of my top 5 Christian non-fiction books that I will return to often (along with When People are Big and God is Small, and The Praying Life). The author does such an amazing job of balancing the practical and psychological side of this struggle with the truly spiritual side there is to it in particular for followers of Jesus.
So grateful for Hibbs’ faithfulness to walk with the Lord and willingness to be so transparent about the details of how this has affected his life. God has so clearly used this man’s struggle to shed light on a common struggle and applying the truth of Scripture to it. We truly are “hopeful sufferers,” and I have learned that in a new way from this book.
This is just one of many amazing quotations from the book:
“For Christians, the purpose of all spiritual and physical suffering is conformity to Christ's death and through that alone the ushering in of Christ's resurrection life.
Far from being deflating, that news is invigorating. It's empowering, because you can't avoid suffering on this side of paradise. It's inevitable. Everyone suffers. But you and I don't just bear with suffering; we don't just endure it. We revel in it. We enter it with eyes scanning the horizon for the light and life of Christ, because we know it's coming. It has to. It must. That's what God has promised. I told you this would revolutionize your approach to suffering.
If you're suffering from anxiety right now, start scanning the horizon….We consider the feelings as spiritual medicine.
Anxiety isn't something to be avoided. It's not something to be drugged into submission. It's not even something to ‘get past’ or ‘defeat.’ It's something that God is using.
Pick up that little word with both of your ears: using not just dealing with or managing or working around, but using. Your anxiety, my anxiety, is a tool in the hands of someone who knows how to raise the dead.
That, my friends, is why we're hopeful sufferers. We suffer with a smile because we know that death-defeating life is coming our way. We suffer with hope because we know that especially in this, in suffering, Christ's resurrected life is going to bloom, and no weather of the soul can lay that flower of hope back down in the soil.”
So grateful for Hibbs’ faithfulness to walk with the Lord and willingness to be so transparent about the details of how this has affected his life. God has so clearly used this man’s struggle to shed light on a common struggle and applying the truth of Scripture to it. We truly are “hopeful sufferers,” and I have learned that in a new way from this book.
This is just one of many amazing quotations from the book:
“For Christians, the purpose of all spiritual and physical suffering is conformity to Christ's death and through that alone the ushering in of Christ's resurrection life.
Far from being deflating, that news is invigorating. It's empowering, because you can't avoid suffering on this side of paradise. It's inevitable. Everyone suffers. But you and I don't just bear with suffering; we don't just endure it. We revel in it. We enter it with eyes scanning the horizon for the light and life of Christ, because we know it's coming. It has to. It must. That's what God has promised. I told you this would revolutionize your approach to suffering.
If you're suffering from anxiety right now, start scanning the horizon….We consider the feelings as spiritual medicine.
Anxiety isn't something to be avoided. It's not something to be drugged into submission. It's not even something to ‘get past’ or ‘defeat.’ It's something that God is using.
Pick up that little word with both of your ears: using not just dealing with or managing or working around, but using. Your anxiety, my anxiety, is a tool in the hands of someone who knows how to raise the dead.
That, my friends, is why we're hopeful sufferers. We suffer with a smile because we know that death-defeating life is coming our way. We suffer with hope because we know that especially in this, in suffering, Christ's resurrected life is going to bloom, and no weather of the soul can lay that flower of hope back down in the soil.”
October 14, 2024
I've dealt with anxiety all of my life. This is the great book that really, truly helped. I've been reading it slowly over the last 2 months and I can't say how great it has been. Practical, biblical and real. I will be buying a copy to go back to and re-read. And I've already recommended it to others I know personally.
February 6, 2024
PTH is a gifted writer. His CHRIST acronym has proven super helpful. The book gets redundant at times, but I think that's intentional. This is not just a help for those who suffer from anxiety, but provides a biblical lens for approaching and engaging with your suffering, whatever form it takes.
August 2, 2025
A re-read of a book that was helpful to me several years ago. Even richer this time. A bit repetitive, but deeply important truth to fight to believe in faith. A few key truths from this book that are very important to learn and practice:
#1: Anxiety, suffering, and weakness are all tools God uses to crush us in order to call us into deeper communion with Him- which is our deepest need, and deep down our deepest desire. From this perspective then, we can endure anxiety and weakness in our lives, trusting it's a tool God is using to draw us into deeper relationship with him.
#2: A key insight into what it means to be an image-bearer is that "above all he is disposed for communion with God, that all the capacities of his soul can act in a way that corresponds to their destiny only if they rest in God” (Vos). This helps contextualize what God may be doing in our weakness, suffering, and anxiety.
#3: To be a human is to have a body AND soul that cannot be separated. Thus we need to care for our body (diet, exercise, sleep, appropriate medication if necessary) AND our soul (prayer, meditation on Scripture, community) in order to persevere.
#1: Anxiety, suffering, and weakness are all tools God uses to crush us in order to call us into deeper communion with Him- which is our deepest need, and deep down our deepest desire. From this perspective then, we can endure anxiety and weakness in our lives, trusting it's a tool God is using to draw us into deeper relationship with him.
#2: A key insight into what it means to be an image-bearer is that "above all he is disposed for communion with God, that all the capacities of his soul can act in a way that corresponds to their destiny only if they rest in God” (Vos). This helps contextualize what God may be doing in our weakness, suffering, and anxiety.
#3: To be a human is to have a body AND soul that cannot be separated. Thus we need to care for our body (diet, exercise, sleep, appropriate medication if necessary) AND our soul (prayer, meditation on Scripture, community) in order to persevere.
April 6, 2020
Wonderful
Highly recommended read on the subject of suffering and anxiety, and how the Gospel of Christ helps us to persevere through it all.
Highly recommended read on the subject of suffering and anxiety, and how the Gospel of Christ helps us to persevere through it all.
December 14, 2022
This book offers help to those struggling with severe, chronic anxiety, but many of the principles are also applicable to those who face lesser degrees of anxiety. I appreciated the author’s humility as he shared his own journey, and the practicality of the suggestions he shared. It is very Scripture-centric while also being true to life. My only issue is with the writing style, which felt repetitive and more wordy than ideal. I had to fight the temptation to skim quite a few sections which could have been condensed for clarity and easier reading.
May 16, 2020
This is the most intimate and personal book by Pierce Taylor Hibbs. If you like his other books, you'll love this one. The theme that runs through the book is the presence of God, for such things as nature, food, community, and of course especially through pain and suffering. This book could not be more timely with the COVID-19 outbreak.
December 5, 2022
I read this book slowly over a period of about one year. Pierce Taylor Hibbs writes beautifully as language is something which he has written extensively on but it comes through in his masterful writing style. He is able to brilliantly weave together theology, Bible, and personal application. I believe this book will be helpful also for those who may not suffer from more extreme aspects of anxiety. He uncovers one of the greatest themes in all the Bible: union and communion with God. Hibbs is able to show us how anxiety can serve as a tool to move us more and more into greater intimacy with God. His work on the Trinity in his book is also beautiful and makes me want to read his work "The Speaking Trinity and His Worded World: Why Language is at the Center of Everything." He is seems to find the best quotes by many great authors like Vos, Gaffin, Powlison, Bavinck, Spurgeon, Calvin, and Carl Truman, etc. Here are few randomly wonderful ones: "Your entire life is a holy experiment as God's hands shape you into the image of his Son." Powlison "The power of Christ's resurrection is realized just as the fellowship of his sufferings and conformity to his death. It tells us of the forming and patterning power of the resurrection; the resurrection is a conforming energy, an energy that produces conformity to Christ's death. The impact, the impress of the resurrection in Paul's existence is the cross."Gaffin "The name of 'Father,'...is not a metaphor derived from the earth and attributed to God. Exactly the opposite is true: fatherhood of God (Eph 3:14-15). God is Father in the true and complete sense of the term." Bavinck
January 18, 2021
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up--emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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Written twelve years after Hibbs was first diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, he takes a different approach to anxiety disorders than you typically see. It's not about denying the problem, it's not about overcoming it, and striving to lead an anxiety-free life. Instead, it's about relying not on our own strength, but on Christ who is sufficient when we are not; it's about learning to see what God's purpose in the suffering is, understanding that His hand is guiding all things—including our problems—so how do we in faith (without denying the suffering) rest in faith.
If like me, you don't suffer from an anxiety disorder, you have your own challenges in your life, ways in which you suffer. It's easy, thanks to the way Hibbs wrote this, to see how you can apply these principles to your own circumstances.
Very practical, but not at the cost of truth and theological reflection.
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Written twelve years after Hibbs was first diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, he takes a different approach to anxiety disorders than you typically see. It's not about denying the problem, it's not about overcoming it, and striving to lead an anxiety-free life. Instead, it's about relying not on our own strength, but on Christ who is sufficient when we are not; it's about learning to see what God's purpose in the suffering is, understanding that His hand is guiding all things—including our problems—so how do we in faith (without denying the suffering) rest in faith.
If like me, you don't suffer from an anxiety disorder, you have your own challenges in your life, ways in which you suffer. It's easy, thanks to the way Hibbs wrote this, to see how you can apply these principles to your own circumstances.
Very practical, but not at the cost of truth and theological reflection.
May 28, 2021
This was a bit of a slog for me and I’m not sure what I think of it. The author has a severe anxiety disorder and focuses on the idea anxiety as suffering that crushes us and can bring us closer to God. Some helpful practical ideas but overall it left me a little ambivalent.
September 10, 2022
Excellent Biblical treatment of anxiety, especially the kind that seems crippling to people. The premise is that anxiety is not something to be dismissed but embraced as something God is doing in a life to change us into the image of his Son.
April 14, 2020
Found this very helpful.
January 8, 2021
Dr. Hibbs’ book is caring, practical and biblical, and it’s based on his own experience. I highly recommend his book.
July 6, 2022
Potentially helpful for people who have very similar struggles as Hibbs. A little too repetitive for my taste.
December 20, 2023
Single-handedly vindicated the biblical counseling movement for me.
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