The Partnership

“Trust in God” is not just a pious phrase that you hear in a sermon. It is not something superficial that you get because you attend Church on Sunday. It is a style of life. It is a day-by-day, moment-by-moment trust in God that actually empowers you to deal with your anxieties. Notice, I said “deal with,” not “get rid of.” As long as we are finite beings, in this life we will never get rid of anxiety completely. It would be unrealistic, even abnormal, to expect that. But we can get rid of a lot of the destructive anxiety, and be free to use the rest of it creatively. Rather than tearing us apart, the anxiety that remains can teach us to throw ourselves on the love of God without reservation.

Edwin Teale, the naturalist writer, tells about a period of anxiety in his life during which he could not sleep. One night he decided to try the old remedy for insomnia: counting…