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Sep 21, 2022 08:00am

When Anxiety Comes, part 1

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My wife had surgery earlier this week. As surgeries go, this one was not overly serious, complicated, or dangerous. But surgery is surgery. Even though I was fully confident in the
outcome, it still came with a touch of anxiety. I have heard it said that anxiety cannot coexist with faith. I understand the point, but unfortunately, it can make people feel guilty or faithfully inferior when they feel anxiety.

Maybe there are some super faithful people that never experience anxiety. I am not one of those
people, and in fact, I don’t think I have ever met one of those people.

Even Jesus experienced anxiety. On the evening before His crucifixion, he suffered anxiety to the point that “his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44). Now that’s some serious anxiety! While I agree that a lifestyle of anxiety may be indicative of a spiritual problem, I reject the idea that bouts of it are somehow shameful. That is not the intention nor model of Jesus.

But back to my wife’s surgery.

We were not told beforehand how long the surgery would take, and I never asked, but I assumed it would be about an hour. After they took her back, an hour passed…I heard nothing. Then two hours passed…still nothing. At that point, I became mildly concerned.
Then three hours passed, and my mild concern turned to what I would call moderate anxiety. Why I did not ask for an update at that point, I do not know.
Then as four hours without a word approached, my moderate anxiety turned the page to major anxiety.
I am not a person prone to panic, but my thoughts began to spiral out of control. It was obvious that the anxiety was winning even though I tried everything I knew to calm my fears. I should have demanded an update, but the anxiety seemed to override my common sense and
good judgment. So I did nothing but worry even more. I then began to worry about being worried; the questions spiraled out of control for a moment. I even began to question my faith. Could it be that I didn’t trust God as much as I thought I did? I am normally a level headed person, but this was a momentary downward and out of control spiral!
This is the way anxiety works, isn’t it? Common sense and good judgment get overwhelmed, and perspective gets distorted.

Finally at about the 4 ½ hour mark, my phone rang, and it was the doctor calling to tell me that all had gone very well. They were able to accomplish exactly what they had planned. He felt the injury would heal very well.

When I mentioned that I had been worried about the length of the surgery, he seemed surprised. He said that the procedure only took about 20 minutes.
WHAT!!!!! Are you kidding me!
You mean I had gone through several hours of anxiety and even panic over a twenty-minute surgery!
Yes. All because of a lack of communication. Apparently, there was a four hour delay to begin the surgery.
So I had suffered an extended time of needless anxiety because of that failure to communicate.

Their lack of communication is what first cause my anxiety, but my failure to communicate my concern and seek answers caused that anxiety to grow. I had suffered this anxiety needlessly.

And I don’t think my example is an isolated case.
A lot of anxiety in life is needless, brought on by a lack of communication. Specifically, a lack of communication with God.
To be sure, anxiety is a complicated issue. I am not a doctor, mental health professional, counselor, or pastor. So I don’t pretend to have all the answers. There are certainly times when anxiety is an appropriate response, but tomorrow let’s look at how Jesus shows us what to do with anxiety. See you then!