Lots of medications out there to fix problems. And a lot of them are aimed directly at anxiety.

Am I here to poke fun at people for feeling anxiety? To tell you it is your problem and you can fix it yourself? To ‘Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps’, or to ‘Put on your big girl panties.’ Or maybe this one; ‘Fake it ‘til you make it.’ How about; ‘It’s all in how you decide to look at life. So, just make up your mind to change your thinking.’

No way, stupid I am not. But I do happen to be intelligent enough to realize our long-term mental or emotional state has a lot to do with our current anxiety levels. No doubt about that. Here’s why.

Childhood sets us up. Negative childhoods influence us as adults ... period. If there was no training back then to have the confident attitude of, “Yep, I gotta a problem right now, but I know I can handle it until it’s gone” - that creates a problem. The learned self-assurance and confidence that helps to ward off anxiety and worry as adults can easily be missing.

And evidently that happened a lot back when we were all playing in the dirt, riding bikes, or feeding imaginary milk to our little dollies. Because there are prescriptions by the armload for medicating anxiety problems away. And folks, the pharmaceutical companies do not just manufacture a drug for the fun of it. There has to be a huge need for it. The cost of bringing a drug to the United States market is not small, and for some odd reason they insist they be able to pay the costs involved and also make a profit.

But experience with anti-anxiety meds has taught there are problems with the ‘Just pop a pill and make it all go away’ mentality. Problems that make the initial worry a simple walk in the park.

Oh, sure, you swallow that little pill, and that huge anxiety ball that lives 24/7 in your chest will float away. But depend on your ‘Sweet Little Friend’ long enough, and you can easily find yourself living with three ‘Big Ugly Enemies.’ 1. Over time, your body will demand more friends to give you the same effect. 2. Your body can easily become actually dependent upon the chemicals in that pill. 3. The problem that is creating your anxiety doesn’t dissolve when that anti-anxiety pill dissolves in your stomach.

We need a better, healthier, and permanent solution. Here it is: Isaiah 41:10 in the Bible.

Read it, believe it, learn to quote it to yourself when the panic attacks hit every few minutes.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Try it for yourself.

Send any responses to andybowman839@gmail.com.