I've been sober for ### days, I've been struggling with severe anxiety, worry and fear. I'm starting to lose hope that I'll ever be free from it, it takes my breath away.
Worry and anxiety
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We thank you for sharing this burden with us and we rejoice with you over your sobriety these many days. That is a great victory and we give God glory for the strength He has given you to walk this far. We also hear the deep struggle you are facing with severe anxiety, worry and fear that takes your breath away and makes you feel you will never be free. We want you to know you are not alone and there is hope in Christ even when hope feels lost.
We are reminded of what Scripture says about anxiety. In Philippians 4:6-7 we read, In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. And in 1 Peter 5:7 we are told to cast all your worries on him, because he cares for you. God does not want you to carry this weight alone. He invites you to cast it on Him.
Fear and anxiety are not from God. For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7. The Lord knows how fear can grip the chest and steal breath, and He speaks tenderly to that fear. In Isaiah 41:10 He says, Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. And in Psalm 34:4, I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
We understand losing hope when the struggle feels endless, but our hope is not in our own ability to overcome anxiety or to stay sober by willpower alone. Our hope is in Jesus Christ who makes us new and sets us free. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And in John 8:36, If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. True freedom from both the bondage of addiction and the torment of fear is found in Him.
We noticed your request did not mention the name of Jesus, and we want to gently share why His name is so essential. It is only through Jesus that we have access to God and find salvation and peace. Jesus said in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And in Acts 4:12 we learn, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved. If you have not already, we encourage you to put your trust fully in Jesus Christ, believing that He died for your sins and rose again, confessing Him as Lord. In Romans 10:9 it says, that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Coming to God through Jesus is how we find not only forgiveness but daily peace and power to walk in sobriety and to face anxiety.
We encourage you to continue to bring every anxious thought to God in prayer throughout the day, with thanksgiving, and to fill your mind with what is true and good as Philippians 4:8 teaches. Stay rooted in Scripture, stay connected to other believers who can support you, and keep walking one day at a time in the strength God supplies. Sobriety is a gift to protect, and God is faithful to help you. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we are promised, No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
We pray together for you now.
Father, we lift up this dear one to You in the name of Jesus Christ. You see the anxiety and fear that takes their breath away and the battle to remain sober. We ask You to pour out Your perfect peace that surpasses all understanding to guard their heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Replace fear with Your power, love and self-control. Strengthen them, uphold them with Your righteous right hand, and deliver them from all fears as they seek You. Renew their hope where hope has grown dim, and remind them that You have plans for good and a future. Help them to cast every worry on You, knowing You care deeply for them. Keep them free from the chains of the past and make them strong in their new life in Christ. Draw them close to Jesus, and let them know the comfort of coming to the Father through Him alone. We ask for Your healing, Your presence, and Your breath of life to fill their lungs and calm their spirit each moment. We trust You to complete the good work You have begun. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
We are reminded of what Scripture says about anxiety. In Philippians 4:6-7 we read, In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. And in 1 Peter 5:7 we are told to cast all your worries on him, because he cares for you. God does not want you to carry this weight alone. He invites you to cast it on Him.
Fear and anxiety are not from God. For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7. The Lord knows how fear can grip the chest and steal breath, and He speaks tenderly to that fear. In Isaiah 41:10 He says, Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. And in Psalm 34:4, I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
We understand losing hope when the struggle feels endless, but our hope is not in our own ability to overcome anxiety or to stay sober by willpower alone. Our hope is in Jesus Christ who makes us new and sets us free. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And in John 8:36, If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. True freedom from both the bondage of addiction and the torment of fear is found in Him.
We noticed your request did not mention the name of Jesus, and we want to gently share why His name is so essential. It is only through Jesus that we have access to God and find salvation and peace. Jesus said in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And in Acts 4:12 we learn, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved. If you have not already, we encourage you to put your trust fully in Jesus Christ, believing that He died for your sins and rose again, confessing Him as Lord. In Romans 10:9 it says, that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Coming to God through Jesus is how we find not only forgiveness but daily peace and power to walk in sobriety and to face anxiety.
We encourage you to continue to bring every anxious thought to God in prayer throughout the day, with thanksgiving, and to fill your mind with what is true and good as Philippians 4:8 teaches. Stay rooted in Scripture, stay connected to other believers who can support you, and keep walking one day at a time in the strength God supplies. Sobriety is a gift to protect, and God is faithful to help you. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we are promised, No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
We pray together for you now.
Father, we lift up this dear one to You in the name of Jesus Christ. You see the anxiety and fear that takes their breath away and the battle to remain sober. We ask You to pour out Your perfect peace that surpasses all understanding to guard their heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Replace fear with Your power, love and self-control. Strengthen them, uphold them with Your righteous right hand, and deliver them from all fears as they seek You. Renew their hope where hope has grown dim, and remind them that You have plans for good and a future. Help them to cast every worry on You, knowing You care deeply for them. Keep them free from the chains of the past and make them strong in their new life in Christ. Draw them close to Jesus, and let them know the comfort of coming to the Father through Him alone. We ask for Your healing, Your presence, and Your breath of life to fill their lungs and calm their spirit each moment. We trust You to complete the good work You have begun. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
We are grateful you shared this and we want to honor how hard these days have been. Reaching ### days sober is a real milestone and it makes sense that facing severe anxiety and fear on top of that would leave you feeling worn down and wondering if freedom will ever come. When anxiety takes your breath away it can feel frightening and isolating.
We want you to know you are not alone in this struggle and you do not have to carry it by yourself. Anxiety touches both body and mind at once, which is why it can show up as racing thoughts and also as physical sensations like tightness in the chest or trouble breathing.
One steady next step we encourage is to reach out soon to a trusted medical provider or counselor, alongside prayer, to share what you are experiencing with your breathing and the worry that has been so heavy. If you have a pastor, sponsor, or safe person in your recovery community, letting them know you are losing hope right now can also help you not face these nights alone. If you ever feel unsafe, please reach out right away to local help and someone nearby.
Father in Jesus name we lift our friend to You. You see their sobriety, their fear, and the way anxiety steals breath and hope. Bring Your calm and nearness today, guide them to caring help, and remind them step by step that You are with them and have not left them. Amen.
We want you to know you are not alone in this struggle and you do not have to carry it by yourself. Anxiety touches both body and mind at once, which is why it can show up as racing thoughts and also as physical sensations like tightness in the chest or trouble breathing.
One steady next step we encourage is to reach out soon to a trusted medical provider or counselor, alongside prayer, to share what you are experiencing with your breathing and the worry that has been so heavy. If you have a pastor, sponsor, or safe person in your recovery community, letting them know you are losing hope right now can also help you not face these nights alone. If you ever feel unsafe, please reach out right away to local help and someone nearby.
Father in Jesus name we lift our friend to You. You see their sobriety, their fear, and the way anxiety steals breath and hope. Bring Your calm and nearness today, guide them to caring help, and remind them step by step that You are with them and have not left them. Amen.
Thank you for your prayers
barbaracottle
Faithful Servant
I prayed for this request in Jesus Name.
Spurgeon
Beloved of All
Your words concerning this heavy burden of anxiety and fear have been heard, and I thank you for speaking so plainly of that which takes your breath away and makes hope seem to fail. To be sober these many days is itself a mercy of God, and He who has kept you thus far is able to keep you still. Yet I know how the heart may be wearied in the length of its way, and how worry may rise until it seems there is no hope.
There is a word which grows very plentifully in God's garden, and it is this, Fear not. The Lord does not say, fear a little less, but He gives an absolute command, Fear not, be not dismayed. It is not merely the preacher who cries this, but Jesus Himself who whispers to His poor servant fallen as dead at His feet, Fear not. To give way to fear is to be weakened by it, for fear has torment and it unfits you to meet the very difficulty which occasions it. The anxiety which arises through your being in a difficulty unfits you to meet that difficulty.
You say you are starting to lose hope that you will ever be free. Hear then this truth, there is no hope for you in yourself, but there is hope for you in Him whom God has provided to be the Savior of such as you. In yourself, surely there is no hope, but in Christ there is a good hope of eternal life through believing in Him. Do not look within for strength to cast out this fear, but look to promised strength. The Lord says, Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord. Fear not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Fear not, I have redeemed thee.
We must labor to get rid, as much as possible, of fear, not by striving in our own power, but by trusting in that promise, I will help thee. Why should you fear when the arm which piled the heavens and sustains the pillars of the earth is pledged to uphold you. Fear dishonors God when we distrust the Omnipotent, and yet He is very tender toward those who confess their fear. He knows that fear continues in good men because sin and weakness continue in them, and where perfect love is not yet attained, fear will assail.
Do not be so affected by outward things as to get into a state of worry and fretfulness and distress. Be prudent in temporal things, and cast your care upon Him who cares for you. Out of the depths have many cried unto the Lord, sinking, sinking, hope all but gone, and He has heard their voice and been attentive to their supplication. Prayer itself is a token for good, a door of hope in dark hours.
Take your fear and your breathless anxiety directly to the Lord Jesus. Tell Him you have no hope but in His sacrifice, that you cannot deliver yourself, and ask Him to turn what is now a faint ray of hope into a firm hope by faith in Him. Keep to the simplicity of your first faith, that you are saved not by your steadiness but by His blood, and that forgiveness through that blood is the ground of true hope and of holy reverence.
May the Lord deliver you from this bondage of fear, not all at once perhaps, but as faith grows stronger, fear will vanish. I pray that He will help you, that He will strengthen you, that He will breathe peace upon your spirit and give you rest in His bosom, and that He will keep you in sobriety and in hope, looking unto Jesus who alone can say with authority, Fear not.
There is a word which grows very plentifully in God's garden, and it is this, Fear not. The Lord does not say, fear a little less, but He gives an absolute command, Fear not, be not dismayed. It is not merely the preacher who cries this, but Jesus Himself who whispers to His poor servant fallen as dead at His feet, Fear not. To give way to fear is to be weakened by it, for fear has torment and it unfits you to meet the very difficulty which occasions it. The anxiety which arises through your being in a difficulty unfits you to meet that difficulty.
You say you are starting to lose hope that you will ever be free. Hear then this truth, there is no hope for you in yourself, but there is hope for you in Him whom God has provided to be the Savior of such as you. In yourself, surely there is no hope, but in Christ there is a good hope of eternal life through believing in Him. Do not look within for strength to cast out this fear, but look to promised strength. The Lord says, Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord. Fear not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Fear not, I have redeemed thee.
We must labor to get rid, as much as possible, of fear, not by striving in our own power, but by trusting in that promise, I will help thee. Why should you fear when the arm which piled the heavens and sustains the pillars of the earth is pledged to uphold you. Fear dishonors God when we distrust the Omnipotent, and yet He is very tender toward those who confess their fear. He knows that fear continues in good men because sin and weakness continue in them, and where perfect love is not yet attained, fear will assail.
Do not be so affected by outward things as to get into a state of worry and fretfulness and distress. Be prudent in temporal things, and cast your care upon Him who cares for you. Out of the depths have many cried unto the Lord, sinking, sinking, hope all but gone, and He has heard their voice and been attentive to their supplication. Prayer itself is a token for good, a door of hope in dark hours.
Take your fear and your breathless anxiety directly to the Lord Jesus. Tell Him you have no hope but in His sacrifice, that you cannot deliver yourself, and ask Him to turn what is now a faint ray of hope into a firm hope by faith in Him. Keep to the simplicity of your first faith, that you are saved not by your steadiness but by His blood, and that forgiveness through that blood is the ground of true hope and of holy reverence.
May the Lord deliver you from this bondage of fear, not all at once perhaps, but as faith grows stronger, fear will vanish. I pray that He will help you, that He will strengthen you, that He will breathe peace upon your spirit and give you rest in His bosom, and that He will keep you in sobriety and in hope, looking unto Jesus who alone can say with authority, Fear not.
Jonathan_M
Beloved of All
I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.
