3 Practical Tips for Helping Your Child Overcome Anxiety With God

How do you help your child overcome anxiety as a Christian?  Are you looking for help on how to handle a child with their issues of fear or anxiety? It’s a question many ask when our souls hit the high seas and we feel like there’s no anchor. It’s hard to watch our children struggle with big feelings. Have you weathered the storms of life and are overcoming trials with God or are you struggling to let the light shine through your darkness? Today, I want to share with you my story of how we are working through our daughters fear and anxiety.

Recently, one of my children began experiencing severe anxiety that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. One day she was completely fine, and the next day, after an embarrassing moment on a competition platform, she became hesitant and worried about doing anything outside of our home, and the “panic attacks” persisted. 

As her mom, watching her go through this experience was heartbreaking. All I wanted to do was help her get through each episode of unease as I longed for her to have the freedom she had previously enjoyed to step out in all God had called her to do. My mother’s heart just wanted to hold her and assure her everything was going to be fine. 

However, this challenge that she was battling was not just affecting her, unfortunately it began to create other challenges within our family. Every time we would need to leave for anything – church, social events, school, or the store, my daughter would need more support, more time, and more coaxing. This meant sibling tension, confusion, and frustration. 

I began to get sucked into my own emotion and thoughts – How could I possibly fix this? How can I endure another trip to the store or another drop off at school? How long will this last?  Each time these questions plagued me, I seemed to spiral into uncertainty, my attitude shifting from hope to despair. 

I was anguishing for my daughter and looking inside myself for the answers. I felt it was up to me to take control of the situation. To fix it. When I saw that my efforts were unsuccessful, it discouraged me even more. Finally, I grew weary of being consumed with something that, clearly, I could not fix. I knew that I needed to get my joy back in order to serve others well, even during this challenging season. 

God was truly working on my heart and mind as He got my attention through His Word regarding my daughter. He loved her, He was watching over her, He was her help and mine in this struggle for peace. Each panic attack was an opportunity to trust in God’s Word. I realized a few things that helped tremendously. 

1.Prayer changes everything. Look up, from where does your help come from? 

I realized my help was coming from the Lord. I prayed that God would give me the strength and wisdom to help her that day. Then my daughter and I would pray together for her healing and strength to take the next step. Sometimes her next step would be to get her book bag or load her bag in the car. With prayer as our foundation, she was able to work her way through the attack little by little. 

When we face trials we have a tendency to look inward. We become focused on our own struggle which pulls our gaze downward. In our own strength, most of us will be unable to accomplish what only God can do. He is a loving Father who is just waiting to help us! He, alone, has the answers we need to get through our individual storms. He never intended for us to figure it all out on out own. He’s lovingly waiting for us to depend on Him, to ask Him, to listen to Him.  

Psalm 121 reminds us where our help comes from. It comes from the Lord! The same God who created the heavens and the earth, knows how many hairs are on our head. That same God is there to help us. Wow, what an amazing encouragement! He is our help in any time of need. We just need to recognize that we need Him and look up to Him.  

So how do we do that? A great way to start is to praise Him for what He has already done. He has never failed us before and He never will. He created the universe, woke us up this morning, and has provided for us over and over again. There are many reasons to give Him praise. When we praise Him, we are thinking of Him and about His character, and it brings our focus back to Him.  

2. Recognize who God is. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!  

When we recognize who He is, we won’t be able to deny His tender motives toward us and we will trust He only wants good for us. He desires growth and maturity so our first response is to look up to Him. It will change the way we handle and deal with the storms of life. Yes, there will always be trials and tribulations, but we will be able to walk through it and overcome with Him guiding us! 

How did recognizing who God is help our daughter? I learned not to push. I realized when I would try my best to talk her through her anxiety before leaving to go somewhere, it would make things worse. Instead, what worked best for us was countdown checks. For example, I would begin an hour before time to leave, to let her know she had one hour to get ready. I would do another countdown check at 30 minutes. The next check would be at the 15 minute mark before leaving, and finally 5 minutes before leaving. During these checks I would not ask questions or engage in conversation unless she wanted to ask me something specific. This allowed her time to process and to remain as calm as possible while she was getting ready and preparing herself to leave the house. 

God will not let our feet be moved. He never sleeps. He will give us shade when the trials of life are beating down, guard us when trouble comes near, and keep us from evil. When we trust that He will do what He says, we can move forward with confidence and hope. 

3.Trust God, but come prepared. The Lord will keep you.

We can walk through the storms and shine His light for others to see because our hope and help is in God. There is greater purpose to our pain when we allow His light to shine through us.  

I trust God, but realized I needed a plan to help our daughter. Planning ahead and prepping the car helped my daughter in her struggle with anxiety. Many times, she would feel nauseated in the car during these moments of panic. Having supplies available gave her comfort. In case there was any sickness associated with the anxiety, she knew she had what she needed. This included water, a lined bowl, and some napkins. 

Slowly but surely, as we walked through my daughters challenging season together, trusting in God, the anxiety lessened. We were able to celebrate together in overcoming each time we left the house and shine His light through our story. Every victory of school drop off, church service, or friend’s birthday party was building her faith and trust in Jesus. He is our help!

God desires to get you through, turn your mindset around, and use you to help others during the process. If you’re going through a difficult season right now, I want you to know that God sees you. You are not alone. He is waiting to help you and ready to walk through it with you. Does this mean it will be easy? No, there will be difficult steps to take, but He will never leave you. Keep looking up to your Help and let His light shine through you! 

Let’s pray: Dear God, Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for never leaving me even when I stopped looking up. You know this challenge I am facing. I can’t get through it on my own. I need Your help, Your guidance, and Your wisdom. When I become overwhelmed, please help me to keep looking up. I know You will see me through this, and it will be all for your glory and for others to see You through my life. Thank you for being with me. I love you. In Jesus name, Amen.