Finish the prescription

You know how when you take a course of antibiotics you should finish the course. Well, I thought I should complete the last three parts of Leslie Weatherhead's Prescription for Anxiety.  They resonate with some of my recent posts (though with less usual texts).

2. When fighting anxiety consider the value of thankfulness.  Note how Jesus himself continually thanked God in what we must call anxious moments.  For example, Jesus at Lazarus' tomb: 'Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here..'(John 11:41) At this critical moment he gives thankful affirmation. Begin each day thanking God for His many blessings. Could any act be more likely to dispel anxiety feeling than to affirm thankfully what God has done for one in the past?  The very act of thanking God excludes the devastating and disintegrating devils of moaning and whining and grumbling and...above all self pity.
3. Consider the value of attempting some kind of service for others. For myself, I have often been shamed out of worry and anxiety by making myself go to help another - or try to do so - only to find that the other, so much worse than I showed far greater courage with far less reason.  How significant is Job 42:10: After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again..
4. Note another step on the way to freedom from anxiety.  We must say every day, 'Into your hands I commit my spirit.  How significantly Luke records of Jesus: 'In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day (Luke 13:33). He said that when he was under the threat of murder. Can we every morning make an offering of the day to God, seeking to know and trying to follow his guidance? There is real freedom is saying to oneself, 'This is what God wants me to do today '.If only we can feel that there is a stream of purpose running through our lives then we can lose our fussy self-importance. If I am ill, I am still in his hands. If I fail I am still within his loving purpose. We may often be frightened, but if we can feel ourselves always within the purposes of God, we shall find peace.