“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 NIV

When I first met this certain patient, I was taken back by the overwhelming loss they were experiencing. The patient just found out they only had weeks to live, their cancer had metastasized throughout their body, their congestive heart failure was already making it difficult to breath, and their kidneys were shutting down. When the patient came into the hospital, they were trying to process two recent deaths in the immediate family and the long-time estrangement of their only child.

To say that the patient was struggling with anxiety would be an understatement. The patient was an emotional wreck who had come to the end of life without any support to uphold them. The two most prominent support systems for most people, family and faith, were non-existent for them and that left me woefully short of any spiritual care to offer.

The uniqueness of the Christian faith is having a God who understands the human cares of anxiety and welcomes us to turn that over to Him. It’s an act of faith, going to prayer for the strength to cope, but it is where we find hope. Without a belief in the Lord we are left to mentally rehearse our anxiety, rather than letting go and letting God.