ANXIETY AND ME:
brief Biblical thoughts to help anxious believers
By Guan Un
Matthias Media. 51 pages. £5.99
ISBN 978 1 925 424 683
When faced with so much potential for anxiety every time we look at the news, as well as anxiety we often experience personally, Guan Un’s book is particularly timely.
The author writes from the position of having an anxiety disorder himself and explains how this differs from the everyday anxiety we all suffer. However, this book is written to be a help whether we are struggling with anxiety ourselves or supporting others who are.
The book is structured by giving a short prayer to pray when struggling with anxiety and then the rest of the book unpacks why the prayer is true. This is done using Psalm 131, with each of the three short chapters explaining one verse of the psalm. The book points us to the God of grace who is bigger than us and our anxieties; to the calm and peace that flows from that; and to how serving others amidst anxiety can shine forth our hope to them.
A particularly helpful section was a succinct definition of Christian meditation, with some useful ideas of how to put this into practice day to day. The book also shows the opposite of this in our ‘self-talk’, giving alternatives we can use instead of our automatic negative talk about ourselves.
However, brevity, the book’s advantage, is perhaps also its downfall. It would be helpful if more space could have been given to understanding the Bible verses discussed, and particularly the steps needed to help someone with an anxiety disorder.
Whilst it mentions that doctors or counsellors may be needed, more details on how you (perhaps with a trusted friend) could put into practice the truths the book points to would have been helpful.
But it remains that a short book may well feel more manageable for Christians struggling with anxiety. It is certainly a helpful read for the rest of us as we support and serve them too.
