Blog

I’m 26 and I’m Afraid to Drive
Madeleine Scholefield Madeleine Scholefield

I’m 26 and I’m Afraid to Drive

I’d never been afraid to drive, and here I was, sitting in my own driveway, hyperventilating. I started the engine, and as it burst to life, I burst into tears. Something gripped my chest tightly, and it wasn’t going away. All I knew was that I couldn’t get back on the road. It wouldn’t be safe.

Read More
When Unruly Thoughts Refuse to Be Taken Captive
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

When Unruly Thoughts Refuse to Be Taken Captive

Violent, deathly images flashed through my mind. I gripped the cold porcelain and gritted my teeth as the images pelted me. I first imagined myself holding up a shield against them, yet they simply punctured it. Then I sought to gather each of them up and stuff them in a cage like vermin, but they continued to break free.

Read More
How to Be Helpful When a Loved One Tells You They’re Anxious
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

How to Be Helpful When a Loved One Tells You They’re Anxious

I understand how anxiety can hijack physiology and rational thought at any time, in any place: at the grocery store, at work, in mid-conversation on a coffee date — it has no regard for students’ classwork or adults’ busy agendas. It doesn’t care. Everybody’s anxiety is different, though, which is why this post is about asking the right questions, rather than giving the right advice.

Read More
6 People in the Bible Who Struggled With Their Mental Health
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

6 People in the Bible Who Struggled With Their Mental Health

Each of these people in the Bible is a reminder that those of us who struggle with our mental health are not alone. But beyond that, we can also learn valuable lessons from those who’ve gone before us in how they dealt with and responded to their struggles. Let’s take a look.

Read More
What’s My Next Step?
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

What’s My Next Step?

You might find yourself feeling like you’re treading water. You aren’t in the places that you’ve left behind, but you aren’t yet in the places that you thought God was calling you to. There’s a constant back and forth between what was and what is not yet, but all the while you feel like you aren’t really anywhere.

Read More
Clinical Anxiety Isn’t What the Church Thinks It Is
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

Clinical Anxiety Isn’t What the Church Thinks It Is

All I knew about anxiety had come from my church. And all my church taught was that anxiety was worry. It was a failure to trust God with my future. And if I prayed and ‘genuinely gave it to God’, it would go away.

Read More
10 Surprising Things I’ve Learned About Having Good Mental Health
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

10 Surprising Things I’ve Learned About Having Good Mental Health

I’ve never struggled with depression or anxiety – until a few years ago. I had a panic attack on a small aircraft as it was flying through a storm, bouncing around like a dodgem car. And for a good year after that incident, I felt incredibly anxious whenever I boarded aircraft. But I sought help and began the journey of responding well to anxiety.

Read More
When It Feels Like We're Drowning
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

When It Feels Like We're Drowning

When I’m in a place of utter chaos, floundering around and feeling like I’m going under, who am I calling out to? Am I jumping on social media and looking for validation and safety in other people’s content? Or am I catching my breath and calling out to the One who never left me in the first place, the One who was present from the beginning telling me I could “come” despite the chaos of the storm swirling around me?

Read More
What the Bible Says About Peace
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

What the Bible Says About Peace

There’s so much going on in the world, and it can be overwhelming. Whether we’re struggling with troubles in our own lives or feeling the barrage of bad news every time we look at the headlines, peace can feel elusive – if not impossible. All that can leave us wondering, “How can we find peace with everything going on?”

Read More
I’m Haunted by Intrusive Thoughts
Anxious Faith Anxious Faith

I’m Haunted by Intrusive Thoughts

Intrusive thoughts are far more prevalent than many of us realise. Perhaps you’re one of those people who struggles. And perhaps like me, these thoughts rattle you and your faith at times. What’s wrong with me? How can I, one redeemed by Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, experience these kinds of disturbing, violent, or sexual thoughts?

Read More