July 28, 2025 • 24 mins
Fear and anxiety touch all our lives, yet many of us—even believers—find ourselves trapped in their grip despite knowing God calls us to peace. In this heartfelt conversation, hosts John Martin and Valerie Peterson share their personal journeys with anxiety while offering practical biblical solutions for breaking free.
"I've had anxiety in my past, even anxiety where it was crippling me," John confesses, immediately creating a safe space for listeners struggling with similar experiences. This raw honesty sets the tone for an episode that doesn't simply offer platitudes but acknowledges the very real battle many face daily.
The hosts explore the fundamental spiritual dynamics behind anxiety—the tension between trust and control. Drawing from Scripture passages like Matthew 6:25-34 and Philippians 4:6-7, they reveal how God's word directly addresses our tendency to worry about tomorrow. Valerie shares a powerful insight: "I'll take life half hour by half hour. Sometimes even a day is hard to do," demonstrating that overcoming anxiety is often a moment-by-moment practice rather than an instant transformation.
What sets this episode apart is its practical approach. Beyond encouraging prayer, the hosts outline specific strategies: developing a daily intimate relationship with God, consciously inviting the Holy Spirit into daily decisions, renewing your mind through Scripture meditation, joining supportive small groups, and seeking professional counseling when needed. Each recommendation comes with personal testimony about its effectiveness, offering listeners not just theory but tested pathways to peace.
The conversation culminates with a profound observation about heaven—that we may one day regret all the time wasted in worry and fear when we see God's perfect plan revealed. This eternal perspective invites listeners to begin releasing anxiety today, trusting that the God who sees "the entire parade" of our lives is working even when we can only see today's circumstances.
Ready to break free from the cycle of fear and anxiety? Listen now and discover how to experience the peace that surpasses understanding, even in our increasingly uncertain world.
For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Road to Redemption, a show sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, welcome.
I'm John Martin, your host, andI'm here with our co-host,
valerie Peterson.
Valerie, hello, good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Is this cool or what, that we're here today all
together?
Yes, I've been excited aboutthis show, john.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I have too.
We've been talking about it fora while, and today we're going
to be talking about fear andanxiety and what we as believers
can do to try to overcome thisto the best of our ability.
I think just being humans,we're always going to have some
fear and anxiety.
It's just natural.
But the Lord does not want usto live in bondage and in fear
(00:44):
and anxiety.
It's just natural.
But the Lord does not want usto live in bondage and in fear
and anxiety.
And in our world today, I justthink we see so much of it, and
even amongst believers and hey,I'm guilty of it.
I've lived in fear, I've hadanxiety in my past, and even
anxiety where it was cripplingme many years ago, and we just
(01:04):
don't want to see people livinglike that.
So that's why we really wantedto do this show today.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
And as you were talking, John, I was thinking of
the one verse alone.
I think it's 2 Timothy 1, 7.
I don't give you the spirit offear, but of power.
Love, one translation, soundmind, another self-discipline.
Is that a good word for ustoday?
To start with, he doesn't giveus.
(01:31):
And can we look at it?
Is there a spiritual element init?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, there is.
It's just I think what it comesdown to is trust and control.
Do we trust God 100%, that he'sgoing to take care of our
problems, yeah, or are we tryingto control our life and control
the outcomes?
(01:58):
So that's the balancing the actthat we live is between trust,
control and fear and anxiety.
So I thought we would start offa little bit just by reflecting
a little bit on what God's Wordsays.
I wanted to start out justreading to our listeners from
(02:19):
Matthew 6, 25, where it saysTherefore, I tell you, do not
worry about your life, what youwill eat or drink.
Matthew 6, 25, where it sayssow or reap or stow away in
(02:42):
barns, and yet your heavenlyFather feeds them.
Are you not much more valuablethan they?
Can any of you, by worrying,add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about yourclothes?
See how the flowers of the fieldgrow.
They do not labor or spin.
(03:02):
Grow, they do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not evenSolomon, in all of his splendor,
was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes, thegrass of the field which is
here today and tomorrow isthrown into the fire, will he
not much more clothe you, you oflittle faith?
(03:22):
So do not worry saying whatshall we eat, or what shall we
drink, or what shall we wear,For the pagans run after all
these things, and yet even yourheavenly Father knows that you
need them.
But seek first his kingdom andhis righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you aswell.
(03:42):
Therefore, do not worry abouttomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble ofits own, Amen.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Such good verses Don't worry about tomorrow,
don't look at tomorrow.
What a remedy for fear andanxiety, john, to stay in this
day.
You know, there's times I'llsay to clients or even in my own
life, I'll take life half hourby half hour.
I don't even, maybe can't makeit the full day, because there's
(04:16):
some things I'm worrying aboutor I'm anxious about or in fear
about, and I'll say, lord Jesus,I'm going to hand you this for
the next hour and then we'llrevisit it.
Sometimes even a day is hard todo.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, it is.
I think what we wanted to do isjust try to leave y'all with
some things that we can do tohelp reduce fear and anxiety,
because it's easy for us to justsit here and say don't do it.
And yeah, that's easier saidthan done.
But what are some things we cando to reduce it and almost
(04:53):
eliminate it from our life?
And it's a process.
It just doesn't happentypically immediately, but some
of the things that we wanted toshare.
Number one is to develop apersonal, intimate relationship
with God.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, how do you do that?
Spend time with Him.
Spend time with Him when youget up in the morning, First
thing.
Spend a significant amount oftime, as much as you can, with
Him in prayer and readingscripture, meditation and
casting your cares to him, theseworries and anxieties.
(05:30):
If you do that every morning,your fear and anxiety will go
down.
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, I love it.
I want to add to that is, as wekind of talked off air John,
are you thinking about what youthink about as you leave that
time with the Lord In a moment'stime?
Romans 12, 2,.
We can be transformed by therenewing of it.
Can we practice A strategy?
(05:59):
Is practicing his presence withus throughout the day, that he
is with us.
He says in 1 Thessalonians 5,16, pray without ceasing.
What does that mean when weleave our time with him?
Can we talk with him, dialoguewith him throughout our given
day?
He wants us to communicate withhim.
(06:21):
It's not a monologue, right,it's a dialogue.
It's pretty cool to think about.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It is and it's.
Just spending that time withhim brings that trust up.
It really does and I reallythink a lot of the reasons that
there is so much fear andanxiety today is because we have
all these phones and devicesand we're wrapped up in so much
busyness and social media andtexting and all this stuff, that
(06:50):
we're gripped up in the worldand we don't have that time.
We're not spending that intimatetime with him in prayer and
meditation and to develop thattrust.
So I really do believe.
For me and, I think, manyothers, this personal, intimate
relationship with God is themost important thing that we can
(07:13):
do in our life, but also toreduce this fear and anxiety.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And you and I talked off air, john, that, looking at
relationships on earth, how dowe learn we can trust somebody?
Is by spending time with them,and that's with you sharing.
Spend quality time with him inthe morning.
What happens when you get inthe word, when you?
(07:39):
You know I love the verse inPsalm 46, 10, be still and know
that I am God.
So often we're not still right.
We are having our, we'relooking at our phones, we're
looking at our computers.
Busy, busy, busy.
I don't think our brains weredesigned for that.
We've got to learn to be stillbefore him and that's when we
(08:00):
can hear his small, still voice.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Amen.
Yeah, and, like I said, I hadanxiety.
I don't know exactly what itwas, but it definitely was
anxiety like problems breathing,panic attacks, you know, want
to go think into the ER,thinking I was dying, you know.
Several times I know peoplehave this.
Oh yes, it's real.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's real, it's real.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And I think with me, a lot of it is just overload.
You take so much on and youhave so much that you're
mentally overloaded and itstarts to come out.
It's a mental thing.
It's really not physical.
I don't think so for me.
The only thing I can really sayas to why because I didn't
ultimately get rid of it throughmedications and I'm not saying
it's not okay to takemedications, but it was really
(08:47):
through God, through time,through spending intimate time
with God and just relinquishingall that fear over to Him and
trust.
It did take time, but I don'thave it anymore.
I can't say that I don't getgripped up in fear and anxiety.
Sometimes I do.
Like I said, I think we'rehuman, but it's not nearly what
it was.
So I can share that testimony.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You know, I want to just say right now I remember in
my life.
I remember saying over and overagain in Isaiah 26, three, thou
will be in perfect peace whosemind is stayed on thee.
And I kept on saying thou willbe in perfect peace whose mind
is stayed on thee.
And I kept on saying thou willbe in perfect peace whose mind
is stayed on thee.
And I was like Lord Jesus, whyam I?
I was a new believer.
Why am I not in perfect peace?
(09:32):
Well, I looked at the next versein the Bible and John.
It says because he trusts in me.
So our trusting him in whateverwe're walking through today is
going to bring the peace right,kind of like what you're saying
when we develop.
Like I look at you know, whenyou met Christina, trusting her
(09:54):
happened over time.
It wasn't, it was a process,not an event.
Well, that's how it is with ourHeavenly Father and I just want
to encourage believers todaywrite down a list of
remembrances of what he's donefor you, because I think Satan
can work overtime for us toforget all the miracles, the
things that he has done.
And if you're a new believer oryou're like I don't really know
(10:16):
about this start just spendingtime with Him, as John is saying
so beautifully.
Just spend time with the Lordin the morning, start there.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Amen.
And another thing is the HolySpirit.
When Jesus, he knew he wasgoing away, he was going to be
crucified, he told his disciplesit's much better that I go,
because I'm leaving the HolySpirit.
And that was that kind of theywere like what?
But it's true, he left the HolySpirit.
And that was that kind of.
They were like what, but it'strue, he left the Holy Spirit.
And I think even a lot ofbelievers today don't know
(10:49):
really about the Holy Spirit.
They've said it in thedifferent things we say in our
prayers.
But the Holy Spirit is there.
He's there for us right now andhe is our great counselor,
great advocate now.
And he is our great counselor,great advocate.
And so if we invite Him in toour day and ask Him to guide us
(11:10):
and to bring us perfect peace,he will do it.
But we have to invite Him in,we have to ask Holy Spirit, do
this, come, he's there.
And that's another thing we cantell y'all to do to ask the
Holy Spirit to come and help you.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
You know, I was thinking it's so funny that God
led you to those verses.
He led me this morning to thoseverses in John 14, where his
disciples were saying you can'tleave.
And Jesus was like I've got togo Because as I go to the Father
, the Father will send the HolySpirit to you.
And I'm thinking, as we eachwalk out the door today, he goes
with you, john Drew, he goeswith you, he goes with me.
(11:47):
And then I look at Psalm 16,john, and it says even in the
nighttime hours I'll counsel you.
When we wake up in the middleof the night that we can say,
lord, what do you want me toknow?
Is there a reason I'm awake,counsel me.
We have.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Amen, that's so great hearing you, being a counselor,
talking about that.
But it's true, you know he'sthe great counselor.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
He's the greatest.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And I think often we don't go to him enough.
You know he's there, but wehave to go to him.
That's it, you know, but hewants us to be in a relationship
with him and he exists in threepersons Father, son and Holy
Spirit.
With Him, and he exists inthree persons Father, son and
Holy Spirit, and then Val.
I think the other thing wewanted to touch on is renewing
(12:41):
your mind.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
We've constantly got to renew our mind to God's
promises.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Constantly Meditate on these scriptures daily, as we
said, to cast our cares on Him,and it's a daily thing.
It might even be a minute byminute thing, but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
And kind of, we talked off air.
Are we thinking about what wethink about?
Because this is thebattleground, Our minds are the
battleground.
So, Romans 12, 2, we can be ina moment's time, John, true,
transformed by the renewing ofour mind.
I mean, I'm like sometimes,like Lord Jesus, you got to help
(13:18):
me.
I'm going to stop this thoughtand I'm going to replace it with
your word.
You know I love in Joshua 1,where it says be strong and
courageous, think on or meditateon my word day and night and
you'll be what.
Think on or meditate on my wordday and night and you'll be
what.
Prosperous and successful.
Because where our minds lead,the rest of us follows.
(13:41):
Our minds are powerful andSatan knows it.
So, folks, be thinking aboutwhat you think about.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, that's so good.
I know, val, when we weretalking before, you said
something about a vision ofbeing in heaven, and do you want
to touch on that?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, I do.
You know I've been watching alot of videos, and you know, on
ministers that have experiencedheaven, so I've been real
sensitive to wow, what's thedifference, what's it like there
?
There and as I was praying andhad my eyes closed, I really
believe and saw that we aregoing to be.
(14:16):
We are going to regret all thetime we wasted worrying on
things, all the time we wastedin fear.
When we get to heaven andrecognize really he is in
complete control of our lives,we can, as you said, 1 Peter, 5,
7, cast pitch, throw all yourcares upon him, for he cares for
(14:40):
you.
Can we do that today and can werecognize our worry and fear?
John can be a waste of time.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, and there's no problem.
God can't solve that he wants.
He'll solve them all in hiswill and there's no problem that
is beyond God.
And I do feel in our worldtoday a lot of people, they feel
that their problems are too bigand a lot of people contemplate
(15:09):
ending their own life.
A lot of people contemplateending their own life.
A lot of this has been going onwhere people have been doing
that, and it's linked to mostlyfear and worry, anxiety, money,
health.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Children.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Children.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Grandchildren.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, but there's no problem that God can't solve.
There's no problem that's toobig for him.
If we will start doing thesethings, if we will come into a
personal, intimate relationshipwith him, start spending time
with him, surrendering him,complete surrender, complete
trust, giving up completecontrol of that situation, yeah,
(15:47):
Because I don't know if youfeel this way, but it's kind of
like we see the parade of ourlives through the people on the
fence.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
We're seeing right now, today, and there may be for
the listeners today, some realsevere situational stressors
going on.
Remember, god sees the entireparade, he knows what's coming,
he has in the unseen, he'sworking on each of our behalf.
Can we trust that today we maynot be able to see it yet, but
(16:17):
can we trust that he is workingon each of our behalves to bring
forth what we're believing forand praying for?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
That's right, val, and a lot of people might be
saying okay, continuously, howdo we do this?
And we've said spending timewith God reading his scriptures,
meditating on these scriptures,but also, I think a key
component is getting into a lifegroup.
Sometimes they're called smallgroups.
It's a life group of peoplethat you can be around and you
(16:47):
can make yourself vulnerable,that you can share with men or
women to make yourselfvulnerable, that you can share
with men or women, that you canreally receive some of the
greatest healing of these fearsand worries and things through
these small groups.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
So good.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And, as we say on Road to Redemption, get into a
church, a Bible-believing church.
Get into a church, but also getinto a small group, and I
really think that people thatare struggling with these things
, these small groups, can be amajor breakthrough for you.
Take that step and get into onetoday.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You know, john, we cannot change and grow until we
acknowledge when we have safepeople around us, people that we
may have to learn to trust, andwe start opening up.
Do you notice?
How those fears and thingsaren't as strong Because we know
, oh my gosh, these people aregoing to pray for me, they're
(17:39):
going to be with me through thisjourney.
It's powerful, like you'resaying, to have people
surrounding you, and if you'relistening in today and say I
don't have it, it's time to getit.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
A lot of people are in grief too, just overall from
losing loved ones, and mosteverywhere now they have the
grief small groups.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I would say most.
Every city in America has thesegrief small groups that these
people are walking throughsimilar situations, and I would
just encourage you to seek thatout.
If that's something that isgoing on in your life, seek out
a grief group.
They're there, and we weregoing to say too just with fear
and anxiety.
Going to a counselor is a greatthing too, and, valerie, that's
(18:22):
your line of work.
Do you want to comment on that?
Speaker 3 (18:25):
You know something?
Yes, I do.
If you are seeing a counseloror questioning, should I see a
counselor?
If you are seeing a counseloror questioning should I see a
counselor?
I'm going to remind you,talking to somebody objective is
an indication of strength, notweakness.
It's easier for all of us to goin the same old patterns of
living, so why not step out andtake that risk?
(18:48):
There's something about talkingthings through and getting
feedback from a professionalthat can be extremely helpful in
our lives, definitely.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I agree.
So these have been some greatthings, folks.
Fear and anxiety, they're real.
All of us deal with it.
I mean, it's something that'spart of all of us.
But God does not want us tolive in fear and anxiety.
He says it over and over in thescriptures do not fear, do not
worry.
So we got to stop it or reduceit significantly and start
(19:21):
trusting, living in trust in Him.
And how do we do that?
We develop a personal, intimaterelationship.
We invite the Holy Spirit intoour life.
We renew our minds daily, we'regoing to get into a small group
and we're going to seek out agood counselor or even life
coach.
A lot of people do that tooCounselor, life coach someone
(19:42):
there to talk to.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
There's something about accountability, right
Someone that you can beaccountable to.
Do not do life alone, do not gothrough life, and if you're
someone listening today andyou're dealing with tremendous
fear and anxiety, step out andtalk to somebody.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Amen, god, this has been a great discussion.
It was kind of funny when I wascoming to do the show this
morning.
I told Christina what we weredoing the show on and I said I
bet you're laughing that I'mdoing a show on this because
I've definitely been one to dealwith this a lot, you know,
because I'm a detail or I'm adeep thinker and I think deep
thinkers tend to struggle withworry and fear.
(20:21):
But I can say that mine hasbeen significantly reduced and
these things have helped me.
I still have a lot of work todo, but I'm excited and I hope
we've helped some people.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I hope so too.
Can I add one thing?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I just want to say God's word is his word and he
says in Jeremiah 1.12 that hewatches over his word to perform
it.
I don't know about you, john,but there's something for me to
hang on to certain scriptures,no matter whatever I'm walking
through, and I put them in mypocket, I pull them out and I
read them again.
(20:57):
That brings me comfort becauseit's his word.
He says he's not a man that heshould lie or the son of man
that would change his mind.
Will he speak and then not act?
Will he promise and then notfulfill?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Well in.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Matthew 24, it talks about that.
You know what is it going tolook like in the last days Wars,
rumors of wars, pestilence,covid, bizarre weather patterns.
Now I'm not saying Christ isgoing to return tonight, but
we're seeing signs.
We've got to discern and we'vegot to be village, we've got to
(21:34):
be aware and we've got to besteadfast in knowing, but
knowing, but knowing he couldreturn soon and so.
But what can happen is itbrings more anxiety for people
because they're seeing thesepatterns, seeing what's going on
over, let's say, in the MiddleEast.
And that's where we got to staygrounded in the word.
We've got to stay grounded inhaving peers that are going to
(21:58):
speak into our lives, because weare living in not easy times.
And in those verses it'stalking about believers and it
says because of these things,people's love will grow cold.
We've got to encourage eachother so our love for the Lord,
our love for each other, willnot grow cold, right?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
That's awesome.
I love that because we don'tknow.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
We don't know when he's going to return.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
But we need to live every day for the Lord and do
the most we can with every dayand not be fearful about the
future.
Plan the best we can, sure, butdon't be fearful.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So good, it's pretty powerful.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
It is.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Folks, grab the word and stand on it and believe that
he's going to answer you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Amen.
Well, before we close out, Ijust want to read one more
scripture that we had for y'alltoday, from Philippians 4.
It says Always be full of joyin the Lord.
I say it again rejoice.
Let everyone see that you areconsiderate in all you do.
Remember the Lord is comingsoon.
Don't worry about anything.
(23:12):
Instead, pray about everything,tell God what you need and
thank him for all he has done.
Then you will experience God'speace, which exceeds anything we
can understand.
His peace will guard yourhearts and minds as you live in
Christ Jesus.
(23:33):
Amen, yeah, amen.
Well, it's been a great show.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
It's been an awesome show.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Till next time.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Till next time.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
You've been listening to Road to Redemption, sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
If you have any comments orquestions, we would love to
connect with you.
You can reach out to us atdestinyradiolive.
Thank you for listening andwe'll see you next week on Road
to Redemption.
Welcome to Road to Redemption, a show sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, welcome.
I'm John Martin, your host, andI'm here with our co-host,
valerie Peterson.
Valerie, hello, good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Is this cool or what, that we're here today all
together?
Yes, I've been excited aboutthis show, john.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I have too.
We've been talking about it fora while, and today we're going
to be talking about fear andanxiety and what we as believers
can do to try to overcome thisto the best of our ability.
I think just being humans,we're always going to have some
fear and anxiety.
It's just natural.
But the Lord does not want usto live in bondage and in fear
(00:44):
and anxiety.
It's just natural.
But the Lord does not want usto live in bondage and in fear
and anxiety.
And in our world today, I justthink we see so much of it, and
even amongst believers and hey,I'm guilty of it.
I've lived in fear, I've hadanxiety in my past, and even
anxiety where it was cripplingme many years ago, and we just
(01:04):
don't want to see people livinglike that.
So that's why we really wantedto do this show today.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
And as you were talking, John, I was thinking of
the one verse alone.
I think it's 2 Timothy 1, 7.
I don't give you the spirit offear, but of power.
Love, one translation, soundmind, another self-discipline.
Is that a good word for ustoday?
To start with, he doesn't giveus.
(01:31):
And can we look at it?
Is there a spiritual element init?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, there is.
It's just I think what it comesdown to is trust and control.
Do we trust God 100%, that he'sgoing to take care of our
problems, yeah, or are we tryingto control our life and control
the outcomes?
(01:58):
So that's the balancing the actthat we live is between trust,
control and fear and anxiety.
So I thought we would start offa little bit just by reflecting
a little bit on what God's Wordsays.
I wanted to start out justreading to our listeners from
(02:19):
Matthew 6, 25, where it saysTherefore, I tell you, do not
worry about your life, what youwill eat or drink.
Matthew 6, 25, where it sayssow or reap or stow away in
(02:42):
barns, and yet your heavenlyFather feeds them.
Are you not much more valuablethan they?
Can any of you, by worrying,add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about yourclothes?
See how the flowers of the fieldgrow.
They do not labor or spin.
(03:02):
Grow, they do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not evenSolomon, in all of his splendor,
was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes, thegrass of the field which is
here today and tomorrow isthrown into the fire, will he
not much more clothe you, you oflittle faith?
(03:22):
So do not worry saying whatshall we eat, or what shall we
drink, or what shall we wear,For the pagans run after all
these things, and yet even yourheavenly Father knows that you
need them.
But seek first his kingdom andhis righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you aswell.
(03:42):
Therefore, do not worry abouttomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble ofits own, Amen.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Such good verses Don't worry about tomorrow,
don't look at tomorrow.
What a remedy for fear andanxiety, john, to stay in this
day.
You know, there's times I'llsay to clients or even in my own
life, I'll take life half hourby half hour.
I don't even, maybe can't makeit the full day, because there's
(04:16):
some things I'm worrying aboutor I'm anxious about or in fear
about, and I'll say, lord Jesus,I'm going to hand you this for
the next hour and then we'llrevisit it.
Sometimes even a day is hard todo.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, it is.
I think what we wanted to do isjust try to leave y'all with
some things that we can do tohelp reduce fear and anxiety,
because it's easy for us to justsit here and say don't do it.
And yeah, that's easier saidthan done.
But what are some things we cando to reduce it and almost
(04:53):
eliminate it from our life?
And it's a process.
It just doesn't happentypically immediately, but some
of the things that we wanted toshare.
Number one is to develop apersonal, intimate relationship
with God.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, how do you do that?
Spend time with Him.
Spend time with Him when youget up in the morning, First
thing.
Spend a significant amount oftime, as much as you can, with
Him in prayer and readingscripture, meditation and
casting your cares to him, theseworries and anxieties.
(05:30):
If you do that every morning,your fear and anxiety will go
down.
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, I love it.
I want to add to that is, as wekind of talked off air John,
are you thinking about what youthink about as you leave that
time with the Lord In a moment'stime?
Romans 12, 2,.
We can be transformed by therenewing of it.
Can we practice A strategy?
(05:59):
Is practicing his presence withus throughout the day, that he
is with us.
He says in 1 Thessalonians 5,16, pray without ceasing.
What does that mean when weleave our time with him?
Can we talk with him, dialoguewith him throughout our given
day?
He wants us to communicate withhim.
(06:21):
It's not a monologue, right,it's a dialogue.
It's pretty cool to think about.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It is and it's.
Just spending that time withhim brings that trust up.
It really does and I reallythink a lot of the reasons that
there is so much fear andanxiety today is because we have
all these phones and devicesand we're wrapped up in so much
busyness and social media andtexting and all this stuff, that
(06:50):
we're gripped up in the worldand we don't have that time.
We're not spending that intimatetime with him in prayer and
meditation and to develop thattrust.
So I really do believe.
For me and, I think, manyothers, this personal, intimate
relationship with God is themost important thing that we can
(07:13):
do in our life, but also toreduce this fear and anxiety.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And you and I talked off air, john, that, looking at
relationships on earth, how dowe learn we can trust somebody?
Is by spending time with them,and that's with you sharing.
Spend quality time with him inthe morning.
What happens when you get inthe word, when you?
(07:39):
You know I love the verse inPsalm 46, 10, be still and know
that I am God.
So often we're not still right.
We are having our, we'relooking at our phones, we're
looking at our computers.
Busy, busy, busy.
I don't think our brains weredesigned for that.
We've got to learn to be stillbefore him and that's when we
(08:00):
can hear his small, still voice.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Amen.
Yeah, and, like I said, I hadanxiety.
I don't know exactly what itwas, but it definitely was
anxiety like problems breathing,panic attacks, you know, want
to go think into the ER,thinking I was dying, you know.
Several times I know peoplehave this.
Oh yes, it's real.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's real, it's real.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And I think with me, a lot of it is just overload.
You take so much on and youhave so much that you're
mentally overloaded and itstarts to come out.
It's a mental thing.
It's really not physical.
I don't think so for me.
The only thing I can really sayas to why because I didn't
ultimately get rid of it throughmedications and I'm not saying
it's not okay to takemedications, but it was really
(08:47):
through God, through time,through spending intimate time
with God and just relinquishingall that fear over to Him and
trust.
It did take time, but I don'thave it anymore.
I can't say that I don't getgripped up in fear and anxiety.
Sometimes I do.
Like I said, I think we'rehuman, but it's not nearly what
it was.
So I can share that testimony.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You know, I want to just say right now I remember in
my life.
I remember saying over and overagain in Isaiah 26, three, thou
will be in perfect peace whosemind is stayed on thee.
And I kept on saying thou willbe in perfect peace whose mind
is stayed on thee.
And I kept on saying thou willbe in perfect peace whose mind
is stayed on thee.
And I was like Lord Jesus, whyam I?
I was a new believer.
Why am I not in perfect peace?
(09:32):
Well, I looked at the next versein the Bible and John.
It says because he trusts in me.
So our trusting him in whateverwe're walking through today is
going to bring the peace right,kind of like what you're saying
when we develop.
Like I look at you know, whenyou met Christina, trusting her
(09:54):
happened over time.
It wasn't, it was a process,not an event.
Well, that's how it is with ourHeavenly Father and I just want
to encourage believers todaywrite down a list of
remembrances of what he's donefor you, because I think Satan
can work overtime for us toforget all the miracles, the
things that he has done.
And if you're a new believer oryou're like I don't really know
(10:16):
about this start just spendingtime with Him, as John is saying
so beautifully.
Just spend time with the Lordin the morning, start there.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Amen.
And another thing is the HolySpirit.
When Jesus, he knew he wasgoing away, he was going to be
crucified, he told his disciplesit's much better that I go,
because I'm leaving the HolySpirit.
And that was that kind of theywere like what?
But it's true, he left the HolySpirit.
And that was that kind of.
They were like what, but it'strue, he left the Holy Spirit.
And I think even a lot ofbelievers today don't know
(10:49):
really about the Holy Spirit.
They've said it in thedifferent things we say in our
prayers.
But the Holy Spirit is there.
He's there for us right now andhe is our great counselor,
great advocate now.
And he is our great counselor,great advocate.
And so if we invite Him in toour day and ask Him to guide us
(11:10):
and to bring us perfect peace,he will do it.
But we have to invite Him in,we have to ask Holy Spirit, do
this, come, he's there.
And that's another thing we cantell y'all to do to ask the
Holy Spirit to come and help you.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
You know, I was thinking it's so funny that God
led you to those verses.
He led me this morning to thoseverses in John 14, where his
disciples were saying you can'tleave.
And Jesus was like I've got togo Because as I go to the Father
, the Father will send the HolySpirit to you.
And I'm thinking, as we eachwalk out the door today, he goes
with you, john Drew, he goeswith you, he goes with me.
(11:47):
And then I look at Psalm 16,john, and it says even in the
nighttime hours I'll counsel you.
When we wake up in the middleof the night that we can say,
lord, what do you want me toknow?
Is there a reason I'm awake,counsel me.
We have.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Amen, that's so great hearing you, being a counselor,
talking about that.
But it's true, you know he'sthe great counselor.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
He's the greatest.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And I think often we don't go to him enough.
You know he's there, but wehave to go to him.
That's it, you know, but hewants us to be in a relationship
with him and he exists in threepersons Father, son and Holy
Spirit.
With Him, and he exists inthree persons Father, son and
Holy Spirit, and then Val.
I think the other thing wewanted to touch on is renewing
(12:41):
your mind.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
We've constantly got to renew our mind to God's
promises.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Constantly Meditate on these scriptures daily, as we
said, to cast our cares on Him,and it's a daily thing.
It might even be a minute byminute thing, but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
And kind of, we talked off air.
Are we thinking about what wethink about?
Because this is thebattleground, Our minds are the
battleground.
So, Romans 12, 2, we can be ina moment's time, John, true,
transformed by the renewing ofour mind.
I mean, I'm like sometimes,like Lord Jesus, you got to help
(13:18):
me.
I'm going to stop this thoughtand I'm going to replace it with
your word.
You know I love in Joshua 1,where it says be strong and
courageous, think on or meditateon my word day and night and
you'll be what.
Think on or meditate on my wordday and night and you'll be
what.
Prosperous and successful.
Because where our minds lead,the rest of us follows.
(13:41):
Our minds are powerful andSatan knows it.
So, folks, be thinking aboutwhat you think about.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, that's so good.
I know, val, when we weretalking before, you said
something about a vision ofbeing in heaven, and do you want
to touch on that?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, I do.
You know I've been watching alot of videos, and you know, on
ministers that have experiencedheaven, so I've been real
sensitive to wow, what's thedifference, what's it like there
?
There and as I was praying andhad my eyes closed, I really
believe and saw that we aregoing to be.
(14:16):
We are going to regret all thetime we wasted worrying on
things, all the time we wastedin fear.
When we get to heaven andrecognize really he is in
complete control of our lives,we can, as you said, 1 Peter, 5,
7, cast pitch, throw all yourcares upon him, for he cares for
(14:40):
you.
Can we do that today and can werecognize our worry and fear?
John can be a waste of time.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, and there's no problem.
God can't solve that he wants.
He'll solve them all in hiswill and there's no problem that
is beyond God.
And I do feel in our worldtoday a lot of people, they feel
that their problems are too bigand a lot of people contemplate
(15:09):
ending their own life.
A lot of people contemplateending their own life.
A lot of this has been going onwhere people have been doing
that, and it's linked to mostlyfear and worry, anxiety, money,
health.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Children.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Children.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Grandchildren.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, but there's no problem that God can't solve.
There's no problem that's toobig for him.
If we will start doing thesethings, if we will come into a
personal, intimate relationshipwith him, start spending time
with him, surrendering him,complete surrender, complete
trust, giving up completecontrol of that situation, yeah,
(15:47):
Because I don't know if youfeel this way, but it's kind of
like we see the parade of ourlives through the people on the
fence.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
We're seeing right now, today, and there may be for
the listeners today, some realsevere situational stressors
going on.
Remember, god sees the entireparade, he knows what's coming,
he has in the unseen, he'sworking on each of our behalf.
Can we trust that today we maynot be able to see it yet, but
(16:17):
can we trust that he is workingon each of our behalves to bring
forth what we're believing forand praying for?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
That's right, val, and a lot of people might be
saying okay, continuously, howdo we do this?
And we've said spending timewith God reading his scriptures,
meditating on these scriptures,but also, I think a key
component is getting into a lifegroup.
Sometimes they're called smallgroups.
It's a life group of peoplethat you can be around and you
(16:47):
can make yourself vulnerable,that you can share with men or
women to make yourselfvulnerable, that you can share
with men or women, that you canreally receive some of the
greatest healing of these fearsand worries and things through
these small groups.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
So good.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And, as we say on Road to Redemption, get into a
church, a Bible-believing church.
Get into a church, but also getinto a small group, and I
really think that people thatare struggling with these things
, these small groups, can be amajor breakthrough for you.
Take that step and get into onetoday.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You know, john, we cannot change and grow until we
acknowledge when we have safepeople around us, people that we
may have to learn to trust, andwe start opening up.
Do you notice?
How those fears and thingsaren't as strong Because we know
, oh my gosh, these people aregoing to pray for me, they're
(17:39):
going to be with me through thisjourney.
It's powerful, like you'resaying, to have people
surrounding you, and if you'relistening in today and say I
don't have it, it's time to getit.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
A lot of people are in grief too, just overall from
losing loved ones, and mosteverywhere now they have the
grief small groups.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I would say most.
Every city in America has thesegrief small groups that these
people are walking throughsimilar situations, and I would
just encourage you to seek thatout.
If that's something that isgoing on in your life, seek out
a grief group.
They're there, and we weregoing to say too just with fear
and anxiety.
Going to a counselor is a greatthing too, and, valerie, that's
(18:22):
your line of work.
Do you want to comment on that?
Speaker 3 (18:25):
You know something?
Yes, I do.
If you are seeing a counseloror questioning, should I see a
counselor?
If you are seeing a counseloror questioning should I see a
counselor?
I'm going to remind you,talking to somebody objective is
an indication of strength, notweakness.
It's easier for all of us to goin the same old patterns of
living, so why not step out andtake that risk?
(18:48):
There's something about talkingthings through and getting
feedback from a professionalthat can be extremely helpful in
our lives, definitely.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I agree.
So these have been some greatthings, folks.
Fear and anxiety, they're real.
All of us deal with it.
I mean, it's something that'spart of all of us.
But God does not want us tolive in fear and anxiety.
He says it over and over in thescriptures do not fear, do not
worry.
So we got to stop it or reduceit significantly and start
(19:21):
trusting, living in trust in Him.
And how do we do that?
We develop a personal, intimaterelationship.
We invite the Holy Spirit intoour life.
We renew our minds daily, we'regoing to get into a small group
and we're going to seek out agood counselor or even life
coach.
A lot of people do that tooCounselor, life coach someone
(19:42):
there to talk to.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
There's something about accountability, right
Someone that you can beaccountable to.
Do not do life alone, do not gothrough life, and if you're
someone listening today andyou're dealing with tremendous
fear and anxiety, step out andtalk to somebody.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Amen, god, this has been a great discussion.
It was kind of funny when I wascoming to do the show this
morning.
I told Christina what we weredoing the show on and I said I
bet you're laughing that I'mdoing a show on this because
I've definitely been one to dealwith this a lot, you know,
because I'm a detail or I'm adeep thinker and I think deep
thinkers tend to struggle withworry and fear.
(20:21):
But I can say that mine hasbeen significantly reduced and
these things have helped me.
I still have a lot of work todo, but I'm excited and I hope
we've helped some people.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I hope so too.
Can I add one thing?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I just want to say God's word is his word and he
says in Jeremiah 1.12 that hewatches over his word to perform
it.
I don't know about you, john,but there's something for me to
hang on to certain scriptures,no matter whatever I'm walking
through, and I put them in mypocket, I pull them out and I
read them again.
(20:57):
That brings me comfort becauseit's his word.
He says he's not a man that heshould lie or the son of man
that would change his mind.
Will he speak and then not act?
Will he promise and then notfulfill?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Well in.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Matthew 24, it talks about that.
You know what is it going tolook like in the last days Wars,
rumors of wars, pestilence,covid, bizarre weather patterns.
Now I'm not saying Christ isgoing to return tonight, but
we're seeing signs.
We've got to discern and we'vegot to be village, we've got to
(21:34):
be aware and we've got to besteadfast in knowing, but
knowing, but knowing he couldreturn soon and so.
But what can happen is itbrings more anxiety for people
because they're seeing thesepatterns, seeing what's going on
over, let's say, in the MiddleEast.
And that's where we got to staygrounded in the word.
We've got to stay grounded inhaving peers that are going to
(21:58):
speak into our lives, because weare living in not easy times.
And in those verses it'stalking about believers and it
says because of these things,people's love will grow cold.
We've got to encourage eachother so our love for the Lord,
our love for each other, willnot grow cold, right?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
That's awesome.
I love that because we don'tknow.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
We don't know when he's going to return.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
But we need to live every day for the Lord and do
the most we can with every dayand not be fearful about the
future.
Plan the best we can, sure, butdon't be fearful.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
So good, it's pretty powerful.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
It is.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Folks, grab the word and stand on it and believe that
he's going to answer you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Amen.
Well, before we close out, Ijust want to read one more
scripture that we had for y'alltoday, from Philippians 4.
It says Always be full of joyin the Lord.
I say it again rejoice.
Let everyone see that you areconsiderate in all you do.
Remember the Lord is comingsoon.
Don't worry about anything.
(23:12):
Instead, pray about everything,tell God what you need and
thank him for all he has done.
Then you will experience God'speace, which exceeds anything we
can understand.
His peace will guard yourhearts and minds as you live in
Christ Jesus.
(23:33):
Amen, yeah, amen.
Well, it's been a great show.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
It's been an awesome show.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Till next time.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Till next time.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
You've been listening to Road to Redemption, sharing
powerful life testimonies,giving hope to those on their
own road to redemption.
If you have any comments orquestions, we would love to
connect with you.
You can reach out to us atdestinyradiolive.
Thank you for listening andwe'll see you next week on Road
to Redemption.
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