Hope When Life Feels Hopeless
Anxious Faith
As followers of Jesus, hope isn't a foreign concept. But we also know that Jesus said that a life following him wasn't going to be easy - we'd face troubles, difficulties, and challenges. What do we do when they hit? How can we have hope, when life around us may seem hopeless? This episode we speak with Katherine Catlett, an ex-cheerleader from the US, who has an incredible story of faith and finding hope, even in the face of tragic circumstances beyond her control. -- Links we mentioned: - Anxious Faith blog -- Through this podcast and our other resources, our...
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Help! How Do Adults Make Friends?
Anxious Faith
We’ve all heard the line before: we were made for connection. We all know how good friends can be, but for more people than we expect, friendlessness and disconnection are significant issues in their lives. How do we go about fixing that? This episode we're joined by Sheridan Voysey, founder of , to look at how we can grow our friendships and connections. -- Links we mentioned: featuring Kimberly Smith -- Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to invite people to take a break from the noise of the world and connect...
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Ep43 BONUS - Let's Read Psalm 23 as a Practical Way to Rest in God
Anxious Faith
If you've listened to we shared some practical ways through prayer or reading the Bible to actually rest in God. This bonus episode is designed for you to listen to when you've got a quiet place away from interruptions, and to read through Psalm 23 with us in a contemplative, meditative way. We hope it's a help!
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Rest: How We Find Rest in God
Anxious Faith
We all recognise the importance of rest, but how often do we find ourselves indulging in mindless entertainment when only resting in God can truly satisfy? In the first episode of our new season, we'll delve into what it means to rest in God and how we can practically do that. -- Links we mentioned: -- Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to invite people to take a break from the noise of the world and connect to God. We want to help people understand how the Bible is connected to their everyday lives by...
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A Biblical Guide to Anxiety
Anxious Faith
We’ve heard lots about anxiety; both from those who experience it, and those who help treat it. We’ve talked to doctors and pastors and counsellors and sufferers and everyone in between to find out how they experience anxiety, and what we can do about it. But what about exploring the very concept of anxiety, as a whole, in light of God’s Word? How should Christians deal with anxiety? And why is it such a struggle for so many of us? Who better to ask these questions of than the guy who wrote the book on it? We’re joined this episode by Paul Grimmond, the Dean of Students at...
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Blokes, We Need to Talk
Anxious Faith
Men are notoriously bad at understanding our emotions—let alone actually sharing about them with someone else—and it’s to our detriment. Here in Australia, it’s Movember; a month where the titular charity encourages guys to raise money for Men’s Mental Health by growing a moustache. And awareness like this is sorely needed — because men are three times more likely to die by suicide than women. So how do we as men learn to open up and start talking about what we’re going through? And…why should we? Does the Bible tell us to? What better way to open up this...
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I'm a Girl and I Struggle With Porn
Anxious Faith
Contrary to what many of us have grown up believing, porn addiction is not a “guys’ issue”. It’s a human one. Join us as we chat to Amanda Anaestad, cofounder of The Victory Collective, a ministry centred around community and resources for women struggling with a porn addiction. Amanda was first exposed to pornography by accident in middle school, and it grew into an addiction that had a hold on her for many years. She shares with us how she only ever heard of porn being discussed as a problem for men, and how her feelings of shame and isolation stopped her from reaching...
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Intrusive Thoughts, Faith, and OCD Therapy
Anxious Faith
As we began to branch out in topics here at Anxious Faith, we were surprised by the number of people who resonated with the episodes and blog posts we’ve done around OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This often-misunderstood condition can be so hard to live with, and yet there are therapeutic approaches that can offer hope and relief for those living with OCD. One of those approaches is called Exposure Response Prevention, or ERP, and we were intrigued to meet Justin Hughes—a licensed professional counsellor in Texas—who talks about ERP not just as a therapy for OCD, but as an...
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Self-Aware or Selfish?
Anxious Faith
Self-awareness is something that we all need; in order to be healthy, loving, thriving people, we need to understand a bit about ourselves and how we interact with other people, the world around us, and even God. And, for those of us who struggle with our mental health, learning how and why we function and react to things the way we do can be a key part of working towards healing. But is there a point where leaning into self-awareness is actually just…selfish? Tinged with pride, and putting too much emphasis on ourselves? Today we’re chatting with Steve Mitchell from the UK,...
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When Mental Health Hurts Not Just You
Anxious Faith
When someone is struggling with their mental health, whether that’s dealing with stress, anxiety, or a diagnosed mental health condition, it’s not just them who feel the effects of it — there’s often a flow on effect to the people around them; their partner, children, family, friends, colleagues… The list goes on. So what’s it like to be struggling with your mental health, only to feel the added weight—and often, guilt—of knowing that what you’re dealing with is also impacting the people you love? How do you navigate those dynamics when there are seasons of your...
info_outlineMany of our guests have shared that they’ve experienced some form of anxiety since childhood. But that’s not always the case; for some people, anxiety or any other mental illness might not show up until later in life, seemingly out of nowhere. That was the case for Akos.
It wasn’t until his 30’s that Akos faced anxiety for the first time, in the form of a panic attack while seated on a small aircraft. That seemingly isolated incident led to a second panic attack, and a third, until his anxiety worsened.
Despite having a strong faith and a good understanding of mental health—Akos was working in ministry and married to a psychologist, after all—he wrestled with recurring anxious thoughts and couldn’t seem to control his feelings. And that led to a shift in his understanding, as he learned that he was not his anxious feelings — they were separate from him, much like how we can be confronted with sinful temptations that are not a part of our identity.
By seeing his anxiety as something outside of who he is as a person, Akos has been able to come to terms with the uncontrollable thoughts he sometimes has and yet choose how to respond to them.
Today, he shares with us how he sees the Bible’s “heroes of the faith” also being confronted with trials and suffering outside of their control, but choosing to remain faithful to God and trust in His promises.
Akos has written several pieces on our blog, including 10 Surprising Things I’ve Learned About Having Good Mental Health and As a Christian Bloke, Here’s What I’ve Learned About Dealing With Difficult Emotions.
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If you want to see more of how Akos engages with faith, mental health, and culture, you can check out his personal blog here.
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you’re struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, there’s a list of helplines you can call here.