Is Anxiety Quietly Pulling You Away From God?

Have you ever felt like anxiety was standing between you and God? You love God so much, but you're constantly impacted by the negative effects of anxiety on your mind, your heart, and your soul. You start to realize the real impact it’s having on your relationship with God—but at the same time, you feel like anxiety is something that’s always going to be with you. You wonder: How can I navigate a sincere, personal faith and relationship with God when this anxiety just won’t seem to go away? You’re not wrong for thinking that anxiety affects your relationship with God. But I also want to encourage you—it doesn’t always have to be that way.

In today’s video, I’m going to share with you three ways anxiety may be impacting your spiritual growth, and how to navigate those challenges —so you can still maintain a fruitful, faithful, and flourishing relationship with God, no matter what.

Anxiety is something I’ve struggled with my entire life—and I didn’t even realize it until I went to therapy in my late 20s, after I had my second child, my son. I was dealing with a lot of postpartum anxiety, and it just kind of exacerbated the anxiety that had already been there. I got to a point where I thought, Okay… I need a little bit of help with this.

That season of therapy really helped me unravel some things. It opened my eyes to the fact that this wasn’t just a one-time thing that happened during that season—it was something I had been struggling with since I was a child. I just didn’t know it. I thought, Oh, I’m kind of weird, or maybe everybody is afraid all the time. I’m in therapy like, Oh, wait a minute—there’s another way. Hold on—you don’t have to live like this?

I remember that toward the end of working with that particular therapist, I started having some serious breakthroughs. I explained to her what it felt like, and I said it felt like I had been colorblind my entire life and didn’t know it—and now I could finally see in color for the first time. Everything I had viewed and experienced up until that point—especially how I saw myself, the world, and even God—was through the lens of anxiety: fear of the future, fear of not being in control, fear of what might happen. I didn’t even know there was another way.

That was a pivotal point for me. But in those sessions, one of the most important things I learned was how anxiety was specifically impacting my relationship with God. And that’s what I want to talk to you about today—but not just the problem that anxiety presents. I also want to provide hope and encouragement: even if you’ve struggled with anxiety, it doesn’t have to define you, especially your relationship with God.

So… anxiety, as we know, thrives on fear and the need to control.  There’s this crazy cycle I’ve talked about before in another video—I’ll try to link it here if I can—called The Anxiety Cycle. It goes like this: you feel fear → you want to control to get rid of the feeling of fear → you start spinning your wheels trying to control it → you realize you can’t control it → that realization fuels more fear… and you just keep going in that loop, over and over again, right?

ANXIETY HINDERS OUR ABILITY TO TRUST GOD

But that way of thinking—that striving—is completely opposite to what we’re called to do as believers, which is to trust God. So, one of the main ways that anxiety impacts our relationship with God is that it creates a major challenge when it comes to trusting Him. And yet, trust is exactly what we’re called to. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” We’re to trust Him with everything we’ve got. But anxiety? It’s like a brick wall standing in front of us—blocking us from doing what we need to do: trust God.

Here’s the tricky part about anxiety—the deception of anxiety: it pretends to be your friend. It makes you think it’s there to help you. It whispers, “I’m just here to give you a warning... to protect you... to help you stay prepared and aware so you can fix things before they fall apart.” That’s the lie anxiety tells us—and we buy into it all the time. We find ourselves right back on that anxiety cycle again. But here’s the thing: nowhere in that cycle is there room to trust God.

So what that means is—we have to come to terms with the truth that:
👉🏽 It’s okay to not be in control.
👉🏽 It’s okay not to have everything figured out.
👉🏽 It’s okay for things to feel unfinished or unknown or unsure.

Because even in those places, we can still have peace.  That is the truth that counters the lie anxiety tells us about God. While anxiety is saying, “Fix this. Control that. Do X, Y, Z,” The truth is saying, “Trust God with it.” Because the fruit of anxiety is the stress and struggle that comes from trying to control things that we were never meant to control. Anxiety keeps convincing us that we can. But again… that leaves no space to trust God.

ANXIETY DISTORTS OUR SPIRITUAL VISION

(we walk by faith, not by sight)***

Next, anxiety distorts our spiritual vision because when we’re looking through the lens of anxiety, we’re always looking for what can go wrong.  Has anxiety ever encouraged you to think about what could possibly go right? No, never.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this before, but have you ever been in a situation where you’re just living your life, and you happen to have a good thought. You’re thinking, “Oh, I’m about to go out with my girls,” or “I’m about to head to this game to watch my kids play,” or “My husband’s about to get home, and we’re going on a date!” Some sort of good thought pops in your head and you’re really excited about something fun that’s about to happen or could possibly happen… and then it's immediately interrupted by an anxious, intrusive thought: “What if somebody gets hurt?”  “What if something bad happens?”  “What if you embarrass yourself?”

You can’t even have one good thought without it being interrupted by some anxious narrative trying to rob you of joy. Then you’re tempted to believe it—because you keep thinking it. Now your vision of the future is distorted. Anxiety is very future-focused, and it’s constantly trying to warn you about what might go wrong so that you can control it or try to spend energy trying to prevent it. But that’s the illusion and why Jesus already told us: Do not worry about tomorrow.

In Matthew 6, He gives what I’d say is the greatest sermon on anxiety ever given (I actually have a full Bible study video on that—make sure to check it out). But in part of His conclusion, Jesus says: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:34)

He’s essentially saying: “Girl, you don’t have control over what’s going to happen tomorrow—so there’s no point in overthinking it or even trying to.”

There’s no need to try to play out every single scenario or imagine all the ways things could go wrong so that you can prepare for them. That’s not peace. That’s pressure. It’s just making sure you’re stressed. It’s making sure you’re distracted. It’s making sure you’re not enjoying the life God has given you today, because you’re too busy worrying about tomorrow.

No, while we are not called to worry about the future, we are called to have hope. When we hope in what God is and can do, we can look at the future with faith and see that it will work out in His hands, even if we don’t have the full picture because we walk by faith and not by sight, or we could even say we walk by hope and not by worry. 

I love Psalm 23:6 where David says: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me…” He’s expecting good from God. Anxiety expects the worst. Hope expects God—no matter what. There’s a big difference between worrying about the future and having a Godly expectation. And that difference? It comes down to where your trust lies. Like I’ve said before, anxiety breeds stress—but hope, faith, and trust in God breed peace in your life. When we choose hope over worry, we receive a vision and expectation of what God will do. Not that life will be perfect, but that even when it’s not, it’s still going to work out. And that lifts the heavy burden that anxiety puts on us to worry, to be afraid, to feel like we have to control everything. Faith brings peace and trust in God.

ANXIETY DISTORTS OUR ABILITY TO HEAR FROM GOD

And finally… anxiety distorts your ability to hear from God, and this might be one of the most important points we’re going to talk about in today’s video. When I was talking to my counselor and working through my anxiety in therapy, I remember telling her about a particular time when I was trying to pray. I just kept having all these anxious thoughts racing through my mind while I was praying, so I was having such a hard time focusing. I told her how discouraged I felt—like, “This anxiety is taking over so much, I can’t even pray. What in the world is going on here?” And my counselor—who is also a woman of faith—was able to really see deeper into the situation. She said: "Listen, I’m a licensed therapist and a counselor. I can tell you all about cognitive behavioral therapy and all the practical things we’ll work on. But as a woman of faith? Girl... the enemy does not want you to pray. It’s very well might be spiritual warfare."

I realized the enemy was using anxiety to negatively impact my prayer life—to discourage me from praying and to try to intercept my communication with God. I learned in that season and during that challenge that anxiety and worry are two of the enemy’s greatest tools to distance us from God. If we think He’s just going to let you pray to God and access all that power through prayer without a fight, we’re mistaken.” And you know what? If you think about it, it’s actually a pretty smart strategy.

Whenever you’re at war with someone, one of the first things you want to do is cut off their communication with their allies. You isolate them. You get them by themselves—so they’re more vulnerable to attack. That’s exactly what the enemy was trying to do with me at that time—using anxiety as the weapon. And the goal? To keep me discouraged, disconnected, and distant from God. So, I came up with a plan: I would keep praying, no matter what.

I would pray every night before I went to bed.  That was a non-negotiable. I told myself, “I don’t care how anxious I feel. I don’t care if I don’t even say much. I’m going to sit down by this bed and pray.” So I had made the decision, but I kept it as simple as possible. I didn’t pressure myself like, “Oh, I need to pray for an hour and say all the right things.” It could be two minutes. It didn’t matter what time it was. It didn’t matter how much I said. What mattered was that I was committed to praying at that time every single day.

To help with the anxiety around what to say, I started with the same prayer every single time. That way, I wasn’t sitting there feeling anxious like, “What should I say? What if I say the wrong thing?” Nope—I knew what I would say. I knew when I would pray. Because at that point, it wasn’t about perfect words—it was about standing my ground and being consistent in prayer through the anxiety. That was the whole point.

It didn’t have to be eloquent. It didn’t have to be long. I just had to do it every single day and show the enemy: “I’m standing my ground. I will not cut communication with my God.” The Bible tells us that if we resist the devil, he will flee. (James 4:7) And eventually… as always, God’s Word proved true. I kept praying, and eventually the attacks stopped. 

So the enemy will distort how you hear from God by using anxiety to stop you from praying altogether. But it can also look like questioning if you hear from God at all. You may feel anxious if you can hear God clearly or at all, and worry if you’ll miss something from Him. And suddenly, you’re confused. You’re unsure. That confusion can paralyze you. This is why it’s so important to know the difference between the voice of God and the voice of anxiety.

Honestly, I think I want to do a whole separate video on that, because it deserves its own conversation. But here’s what I’ve learned:

HOW TO HEAR GOD WHEN YOU’RE ANXIOUS

1. Be Patient to Learn How to Hear From God: First, be gracious with yourself. Don’t beat yourself up like, “Oh, I’m saved, I should be able to hear from God clearly! Why am I so confused?” No. Give yourself grace. It takes time to learn how to hear from God and recognize His voice, and this can be especially challenging if you are struggling with anxiety. I want you to think about hearing from God like learning a second language.  God isn’t always coming to us and speaking in English—or whatever your first language is. He speaks to us in many different ways that take time and patience to learn, and that’s okay.

I can promise you—after years and years of following Him—my ability to hear from God has only gotten clearer. So if you’re in a season where you’re like, “I’m struggling to hear from Him… and I’m dealing with anxiety… and I don’t know if I ever will…” — listen to me: It. Will. Get. Better. Stand your ground.  Keep praying.  Keep seeking. God is not up in heaven, mad at you, like “This is a test! Figure it out!” That’s not His heart. He’s gracious. You need to be gracious with yourself, too.

2. Think About the Character of God: For me personally, I’ve learned that—one—God’s not going to rush you. If you ever feel that urgency like, “Oh, I’ve got to hurry up and do this!”— that’s probably not God. When in the Bible have you ever seen God in a rush? That’s not His voice, okay? God is not going to pressure you. He’s not going to speak to you in a way that’s demeaning or harsh. So, that voice that says:  “You better figure this out—or everything’s going to fall apart.” or “You’re going to mess everything up, and it’s all going to be your fault.” That’s not God. That’s anxiety.

So I want you to really think about the character of God. Think about what you know of Him—from your own life, your own faith journey, what you’ve learned in Scripture… maybe even what you’ve learned in one of my videos. Think about: Who He is, How He treats His people, and How He loves His people. Remember—He gave His only Son to die for us. That’s the kind of love we’re dealing with. So ask yourself: Does what I’m hearing align with His character? Because if it doesn’t, then that’s not Him. 

3. Get to Know the Truth of the Bible: Finally, what you hear will always align with the truth of His Word. That’s why it’s so important to be in the Word—so you can know what is true, because God will never lie. Because the better you know His truth, the easier it becomes to silence the lies of anxiety. I would encourage you—if you haven’t started reading your Bible yet—to start in the Gospels. That’s where you’ll really begin to understand the character of Jesus Christ. And when you’re questioning whether you’re truly hearing from God—or if it’s just your own anxious thoughts—you’ll be better equipped to discern the difference. 
4. Get to Know God More Through Stillness: I also want to encourage you with Psalm 46:10, which says: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Knowing God—in that intimate way where you recognize His voice and trust His heart—requires stillness. Stillness invites the clarity we need. Anxiety invites chaos and confusion. It tells us we need to do all the things, all the time, and to fix everything. But faith and trust in God says:  “I can be still—because I trust Him.” The more peace we cultivate through stillness, the clearer God’s voice becomes.

This is something I have to do every summer—and I had to do it again this summer. I was making some big decisions—business decisions, ministry decisions—about what I wanted to focus on in the fall. And let me tell you… when you start scrolling YouTube, Instagram, TikTok—you hear everybody saying something different: “You should do this.”  “No, try that.”  “Oh, THIS is the best strategy right now.” And suddenly you’re like, “Wait... should I do that?”
Then someone else says the complete opposite, and you're like, “Well, maybe I should do that instead…” Now, you’re just confused and frustrated. 

You’ve got to cut the noise. You may have noticed I’m not as active in the summertime—even on YouTube—and that’s intentional.  I’m getting still. I’m with my family. I’m quieting the world so I can hear from God. And let me tell you—I hear from Him so clearly during those times, and I’ve grown to truly love it. Do views go down? Yep. Does money decrease? It sure does. But you can’t put a price on hearing clearly from God. The clarity and vision God gives me in stillness will more than make up for anything lost during that time in the long run. 

Anxiety will tell you: “You’ve got to keep moving. It’s all on you.” But faith in God says:
“No. It’s on God. And He’s going to do it.” I can be still.  I can trust Him. In that stillness, I get to experience His character, His love, and His guidance like never before. So, before we go, I want to offer you some practical and spiritual tools that can help you make sure anxiety isn’t having a negative impact on your relationship with God.

HOW TO OVERCOME THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF ANXIETY

1. First, pray and pause. Take time to pause. Get still. But most importantly, pray. Keep praying. Don’t stop praying. In Philippians 4:6, the Apostle Paul actually gives us a very clear formula for handling worry and anxiety. He says:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Then—right after that—he tells us to think on these things, and gives us a beautiful list of the kinds of good things we should be focusing our minds on. This is why meditating on Scripture is so important. So even when you don’t have a Bible in your hand, you’ve got truth hidden in your heart. It’s in you. It’s become part of you. It’s embodied in your thoughts, in your responses, in your decisions. So I want to encourage you to focus on verses that remind you: God is faithful, God is in control, God knows the future, and God has your best interest at heart. Meditate on that. Let that truth shape your thoughts and calm your spirit.

2. And then, girl—sometimes… you’ve got to talk back to anxiety. We spend so much time listening to ourselves—and especially listening to the anxious thoughts in our minds. But when I say talk back—I mean out loud. I mean say: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke this anxiety!” or  “I refuse to agree with fear!” Speak it out loud so you can hear it, too. There’s power in declaring truth—not just in your heart, but with your voice. Use your voice to replace the anxious “what ifs” with hopeful “even ifs.”

• Even if I don’t know what’s next, I trust God is already there.
  
• Even if I don’t know the full path yet, I know God is ordering my steps.
  
• Even if I don’t know how it will work out, I know that it will work out.
  

That’s how I want you to talk back to anxiety.

3. Next, I want you to stay in community. Remember—the enemy will use anxiety to try and isolate you and keep you from hearing from God. To pull you away from the people who love you. Especially if you struggle with social anxiety—that can be a major tool the enemy uses to keep you alone and vulnerable. So I want to encourage you:  Stay open. Talk to a trusted friend or spiritual mentor.  Don’t go through this alone.
4. And then—this is a hard one—but you’ve got to surrender.  You’ve got to surrender control. It’s the thing we resist the most—but it’s also one of the most beneficial things you can do. Let go… and let God, even when you’re unsure, because He never is.

I want to leave you with this: Anxiety does not mean you're a bad Christian. It means you are a person who cares deeply about a lot of things. But with God, you don’t have to let that caring turn into fear. You can let it lead you in faith. 1 Peter 5:7 says: “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” And I love that the Bible speaks directly to anxiety.  I love that God acknowledges this is something we struggle with. He never looks down on us for it. He doesn’t shame us. He doesn’t scold us. Instead, He offers a solution: Himself. His care. His love.

Overcoming anxiety and growing your relationship with God doesn’t happen in a day—it’s a daily walk of replacing the lies anxiety feeds us with the truth of God’s Word. That’s why we created the Beloved Women app—to give you daily encouragement through audio devotionals, Bible studies, prayer guides, and a community of women of faith, so you never have to grow alone. If you’re ready to build a stronger, more peaceful walk with God, I invite you to download the app and start today. Thank you so much for watching, and until next time—be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved.