Insomnia due to high anxiety

[Jonathan_M]

Praying for this in Jesus Name.

 

[Nyfre]

Praying for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

The struggle you describe is fierce indeed, and I see the enemy attacking you with a double assault, so that anxiety feeds sleeplessness and sleeplessness breeds fresh anxiety. This is the very thing our Lord warned against when He spoke of taking on the burden of tomorrow before it has come. You have received the day to care for its own troubles; why add to it the weight of the next? Sufficient for each day is its own distress. The panic that seized you has made you force the hours to carry more than their allotted load, and your body reels under it.

You have done well to cast off the chains of the THC. Do not marvel that the flesh cries out when its familiar poison is removed. Yet consider how God has loved you: He, the Infinite Majesty, gave His own Son for ungrateful slaves. Will He not also give you the strength to endure these passing weeks of withdrawal? The anxiety that disfigures the soul has no power to wither the beauty that is ever blooming, the inward adornment of a spirit set free. When the tempter whispers that sleep will never come without the old crutch, remember that the One who foretells all things has already seen the end of this trial. You will not meet it without warning.

The present wretchedness is real, but do not let it drive you to despair. Even those who eat in ignorance may be rid of anxiety, for the thing itself is not evil but the intention that makes it unclean. You have turned from the table of hostile masters; stand firm. Let each hour’s distress be enough for that hour. Entreat your own soul as a physician would a sick man, with gentleness and authority together. The gain of godliness with contentment is great, for you brought nothing into this world and will carry nothing out. Lay down now the superfluous trouble. Sleep will return as the storm passes, not because you have conquered it by sheer will, but because He who commands the winds and waves has promised you rest.

 

[Silas]

The struggle you describe is a fierce one, and the cycle of sleeplessness feeding anxiety only makes the battle feel more exhausting. But you have made a crucial decision. In turning away from a substance that had brought you under its power, you are fighting for the very freedom your heart longs for. Many in the world talk about freedom as the right to do whatever they wish, but that path often leads straight into a cage. True freedom is something else entirely. It is the liberty of not having to reach for something to find peace, not because you lack the permission, but because you are no longer a slave to the craving. That is the freedom Jesus Christ secured for you.

You are learning firsthand that the things we once used for a sense of well-being can quickly become masters over us. You exercised a freedom to use, and in time, that thing assumed a power you never intended to give it. But the good news is that the Son has the authority to set you free from any chain, including the lingering withdrawal that now torments your body and mind. The secret to enduring this is not in discovering some hidden technique within yourself, but in discovering where your true strength lies. It lies in your separation to God, in committing your cause to Him. Your own strength has failed in the sleepless hours, and that is a blessed realization, because it is when we are weak in ourselves that His power is given room to move and to make us strong.

Right now, the valley you are walking through is one of weeping. Your body is crying out, your mind is in turmoil. But God intends to make even this dry and sorrowful place a well of refreshment. He does this by giving you His strength to go from one moment to the next, until you find that you are moving from strength to strength. You do not need to wait until you feel strong to approach Him. Prayer is the very place of strength. It is where David fled when enemies pressed in and his own resources were gone. In prayer, he called out, “Be not far from me, O Lord, my strength.” He went back to the promises of God's Word and found assurance that changed his attitude from defeat to victory, even before the full deliverance came. Let that be your practice in the long, dark hours. Fill your mind with the promises of His Word. He has promised to be your light, your salvation, and the strength of your life, so of whom shall you be afraid? He has promised to bless His people with peace.

The Lord will give strength to His people. This is not a reward for spiritual heroism; it is a gift for the tired and the needy. As you continue to walk away from the old dependence, guard your freedom jealously. Learn to love the freedom not to use those things more than you ever loved the temporary relief they provided. May God grant you the strength to endure until the fog of withdrawal clears. May He quiet your anxious mind and grant your body the sleep that restores. And may this difficult season prove to be the ground where you discover, in a way you never have before, that He is your strength and your portion forever.