On my combat deployment as a Chaplain with my National Guard unit, I faced many bouts with anxiety, particularly when the air-raid sirens would go off, and we would run to our bunkers and don our protective gear.

Those tense moments in the bunker were the worst. You have no idea what is happening outside, how far the danger is from you, how numerous are the threats coming your way, or how long it all will last. You also know the bunker and the gear can only do so much to protect you, depending on the distance and the potency and the duration of the attack. It was terrible.

These were physical attacks endured inside literal bunkers, but use “the bunker” throughout this post as an analogy for your life: as Christians, we face spiritual attacks, emotional, mental, relational, financial, and more – and these can all induce bouts with anxiety in those terrible moments of not knowing how it will all end…

After the fact, we can look back in relief at how God got us through it, but, what should we do in the moment? What should I do when I feel anxious in “the bunker” during a spiritual, emotional, financial, (etc.) attack?

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything” – in every circumstance, in every anxious situation – “through prayer and petition” – talking with God and asking for His help – “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving” – so while you’re talking with God in the midst of your anxious situation and asking for His help, start listing out everything you can think of that you are thankful for.

Inside that literal bunker, for me, this is what my litany of thankful prayers sounds like:

  • God, thank You for my vest.
  • Thank You for my helmet.
  • God, thank You for our sense and warn systems.
  • Thank You for this bunker.
  • Thank You for the others in this bunker with me – that I’m not in this alone.
  • God, thank You for the breath in my lungs.
  • Thank You for the food in my belly from dinner.
  • I’m frightened by what I can see and hear, but God, I’m thankful for the gifts of sight and vision, for sound and hearing.
  • Thank You for Your Word in my head and heart.
  • Thank You, God, for Your Presence – that You are right here with me.
  • Thank You for the phone and internet.
  • Thank You that when this ends, I will get to call my best friend and hear the most reassuring voice in the world.
  • God, thank You for flowers, and sunshine, and music, and laughter, and the beach… (and so on…)

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 4:6-7

That is my constant prayer for myself and for you all, especially in the midst of a tense or anxious situation like an attack: that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, would guard our hearts and guard our minds in Christ Jesus.

You are not alone. We have each other. We have our loved ones carrying us in their hearts and minds and prayers. We have counselors and ministers and mentors available to us both in-person or remotely.

Best of all, we have the One the Bible calls Jehovah Shammah (Hebrew for “The God Who Is Here”) with us. We have Jesus – Immanuel (Hebrew for “God With Us”) – right beside us through everything!

So pray, ask God for help, list out everything you can think of to be thankful for, and remember that God is with you – through everything – no matter what.