DECEMBER 9, 2025

   “Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.” 

― Charles Haddon Spurgeon

HOSEA 1-4

A spirit of prostitution leads them astray;

they are unfaithful to their God.(4:10) 

JUDE

17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

JOURNAL 

Anxiety has a purpose. God designed it as a signal that something in our world needs attention. It is meant to alert us, not enslave us. Yet somewhere along the way anxiety has slipped into the shadows and grown into a quiet epidemic. I see it in my students as they bounce between screens, notifications and the constant drip of distraction. I see it in myself when I avoid facing hard truths and instead reach for the next quick dopamine hit. When we refuse to confront reality the mind does not rest. It loops and spins and the very mechanism meant to warn us becomes the thing that drains us.

Salvation does not remove this experience. What it does is give us an anchor in the midst of it. Being a believer means the Spirit of God lives within and this becomes the center of the personality. Our individuality begins to flow from this foundation instead of instinct or upbringing or cultural patterns. Slowly the actions and desires of a person are reshaped in the love of God.

This sounds simple when I write it. Living it is something else entirely. My mind and heart still wage a daily war and old instincts do not surrender quickly. I often wish the process felt easier. Yet even in the frustration I see grace. The struggle pushes me back to God. It exposes the things in me that still cling to self protection and distorted habits. Anxiety becomes a reminder that I cannot rescue myself.

Thank you Father for the struggle. Thank you that even anxiety can become a doorway back to you. As Christmas approaches help me remember that every person I meet is fighting this same battle in some form. Every child and every adult carries a war inside them. We all need a Savior and we are not left without one.

6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 PETER 5:7