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We all recognise the importance of rest, but how often do we find ourselves indulging in mindless entertainment when only resting in God can truly satisfy? In the first episode of our new season, we'll delve into what it means to rest in God and how we can practically do that.  --  Links we mentioned:  Five-part series on Rest, written by Stephen Unwin  Sign up to the Anxious Faith mailing list to join our Rest reading plan  Blog post: 3 Things That Stop Us from Resting Well  --  Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to invite people to take a break from the noise of the world and connect to God. We want to help people understand how the Bible is connected to their everyday lives by creating moments for pause and reflection, so the threads between scripture and what people are facing seem clear.  We’d be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.  We’d also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.

If you've listened to  Episode 43 Rest: How We Find Rest in God we shared some practical ways through prayer or reading the Bible to actually rest in God.  This bonus episode is designed for you to listen to when you've got a quiet place away from interruptions, and to read through Psalm 23 with us in a contemplative, meditative way. We hope it's a help!

We’ve all heard the line before: we were made for connection. We all know how good friends can be, but for more people than we expect, friendlessness and disconnection are significant issues in their lives. How do we go about fixing that? This episode we're joined by Sheridan Voysey, founder of Friendship Lab, to look at how we can grow our friendships and connections. --  Links we mentioned:  Friendship Lab Ep 33 - It’s Lonely out There featuring Kimberly Smith Sign up to the Anxious Faith mailing list --  Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to invite people to take a break from the noise of the world and connect to God. We want to help people understand how the Bible is connected to their everyday lives by creating moments for pause and reflection, so the threads between scripture and what people are facing seem clear.  We’d be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.  We’d also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.

As followers of Jesus, hope isn't a foreign concept. But we also know that Jesus said that a life following him wasn't going to be easy - we'd face troubles, difficulties, and challenges. What do we do when they hit? How can we have hope, when life around us may seem hopeless? This episode we speak with Katherine Catlett, an ex-cheerleader from the US, who has an incredible story of faith and finding hope, even in the face of tragic circumstances beyond her control. --  Links we mentioned:  Katherine Catlett When Hope Feels Intangible - Anxious Faith blog Sign up to the Anxious Faith mailing list --  Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to invite people to take a break from the noise of the world and connect to God. We want to help people understand how the Bible is connected to their everyday lives by creating moments for pause and reflection, so the threads between scripture and what people are facing seem clear.  We’d be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.  We’d also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.

Anxious Faith website - anxiousfaith.org What better way to start Season 2 than by find out what anxiety is - from a doctor!  Sarah is a GP here in Australia (and we’re referring to her just as Sarah for her privacy), who has seen a lot of patients coming to her for the first time because of anxiety, especially after all that the last couple of years have thrown at us. She shares from her knowledge of what anxiety is: what’s going on in our bodies when we feel anxious, why our bodies feel the way they do, and what we can be doing to try and help ourselves and our bodies when we’re feeling anxious. What she shares isn’t specific medial advice for anyone, so if you are struggling with anxiety or your mental health in general, we’d really encourage you to speak to your own doctor about this, or to reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page. Sarah's ways we can be helping our bodies deal with anxiety - A Converstaion About... Dealing with Anxiety BONUS VIDEO: What might a first GP visit look like? - https://youtu.be/9mQtdA4Vczo -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries

Anxiety comes in all forms, and affects people in different ways. For some it’s something that is only a challenge for a certain time period, for others it’s something they have to face for their entire lives. If we’ve been through a time of struggling with anxiety, do we just write that time off, try and move on, and not let it impact us any more?In this episode, we’re sitting down with Pip. As someone who suffered (and still suffers) from anxiety in certain situations, Pip chose not to leave it all behind when she was more able to deal with the challenges it offered, but instead embraced her calling to study counseling and begin to use her own experiences to help others.  Join us as we hear her story, and hear how she uses the anxiety she’s been through to better serve people now. -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental healthl, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.  

If you’ve struggled with anxiety, depression, or any other mental health challenges, and you’ve been open about it – there’s a fair chance that you might be labelled that way by people.  Whether knowingly or unknowingly, to your face or when you’re just being described, you might be known as “that girl that has anxiety” or “the guy with depression”. It’s something we naturally do – we label and group things together – but sometimes, those labels carry a negative weight or connotation with them. Or, more than that, you might even just come to be known for those labels, rather than who you are as a person. While labels can be helpful, they can also be damaging. In this episode, we’re chatting with Mary, one of the voices from Season 1 of Anxious Faith. We’ll hear more of Mary’s journey with mental health, and the labels she’s lived with.  We’ll also learn about how we can begin to own those labels for ourselves, and the freedom that can come from being vulnerable with people about what the reality of your label is – something they may have never considered. We hope you’ll be encouraged by and take something from this conversation with Mary. You can read a shorter version of Mary’s story, I’m Anxious and I Know It -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

Opening up about our mental health can be difficult - but for some reason it can be even harder at church. Will people understand what I'm going through? Will my pastor? This episode we're speaking with Jordan, a pastor from Melbourne who has lived the experience first hand. We hear his story, but also what he's learned along the way about how he views God, and how God views him. From this pastor who has been through significant mental health challenges, we hope his story will encourage you to seek how to continue on the journey, even when it feels hopeless. -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

Anxiety is never nice to experience. But is avoiding it always the best plan? What if we were able to stop avoiding the anxiety, and instead learn from it? This episode we speak to Dr Sarah, from  Season 2 Episode 1, but this time in her capacity and experience as a pastor's wife and church planter. Sarah shares about how we can begin to unpack what is beneath the fear that is causing the anxiety, untangle the emotions behind it, and ultimately evaluate what it's teaching us in the light of God's Word.  Sarah's previous episode Untangling Emotions by J Alasdair Groves & Winston T Smith -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

  With mental health statistics so high – especially in Australia – the odds are someone we know and care about will suffer from a mental health condition during their life. But what do you do if it’s your partner?  What does that look like day-to-day? How do you support them? Or, even more broadly, how do you begin to tell someone you’re close to that you have a mental illness? This episode we speak to Matt & Maddy, a young married couple who share how they’ve learned to navigate a relationship involving mental illness. Maddy has an anxiety condition; Matt has never experienced one, and they share what it was like going through the stages of their relationship, and how their faith plays a huge part in keeping them united and able to support each other. -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

If you’re someone who is struggling with mental health challenges, be they anxiety, depression, or others, and you’re also someone of faith, surely throwing yourself into  learning everything you can about God, serving Him in every way possible, and making that the focus of your life is the way to deal with those challenges.  Right? This episode we’re chatting with Chris - who was part of Season 1 - and hearing more about his story. Growing up in difficult circumstances, and dealing with depression from a relatively young age, Chris thought that the more he could do for God, the better his mental health would be. As you’re listening, you’ll hear Chris unpack that Jesus isn’t the problem, but sometimes the way we get stuck in thinking of how exactly we have to follow him can cause problems for us. He’s the first to admit he was zealous - but probably zealous in the wrong way. And you’ll hear how as he began to understand this, he began to focus more on the character of God, and find some more peace along his journey. With this episode we’d really encourage you to listen to the end, to see how God has brought Chris from his childhood experience to his life following Jesus today. -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

If you’re someone who has been around the mental health space for a bit, whether from reading or hearing things or dealing with it yourself, you’ve probably come across the concept of gratitude.  Gratitude is something that counsellors and psychologists suggest as a tool to help us when we’re struggling with our mental health, and you only have to walk into any stationery or book store to see how popular it has become – there are gratitude journals *everywhere*. And that’s for a reason – gratitude is actually something that can help our mental health. But what about as Christians? Should we be following secular suggestions of ‘cultivating a mindset of gratitude’ by simply listing what we’re thankful for, or is there more to gratitude when faith is mixed in? This episode we’re speaking with Stephen Unwin, who is actually part of the Anxious Faith team and an editor for Our Daily Bread Ministries. In his spare time, not that there’s much of it, he’s also studying his PhD around the concept of ‘Gratitude and Gift in the Christian Life’. While Stephen hasn’t had to deal with mental health challenges of his own, his years of research into what gratitude is have shown how gratitude can help our mental health.  In the first half of this episode we’ll talk about what gratitude is, what it looks like in a faith-based context, and where we see it in the Bible. After the break, we’ll chat more about how gratitude can be lived out not just during the good times, but even when we’re struggling or suffering. We’ll also explore some ideas for how we can practise gratitude in those hard times, so make sure you hang around till the end! -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

What's the story behind Anxious Faith? This episode we're switching things up - we're hearing from James not as the host, but as the interviewee, as he shared about his and his family's journey through mental health struggles, and how those experiences led to starting Anxious Faith. If you’ve ever wondered where God is in the midst of what you’re going through, James’ story is for you. And out of his story, God has built something beautiful: this community that we now call Anxious Faith. -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube Support Anxious Faith -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

In our early episodes, we’ve been sharing stories about people who struggle with Anxiety conditions, and learning how that plays out with their faith.  But what about all the other mental health conditions we can face? In this episode we’re speaking to Jemimah, a university student from Melbourne who was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (commonly referred to as OCD).  OCD is something that is often completely misunderstood, and as a result significantly trivialised – many of us might think that having OCD means you like having your bookshelves arranged evenly, or that you need to wash your hands constantly. But the reality for someone suffering from this condition is so much more than those common stereotypes. Jemimah shares with us what it’s like to live with OCD, and the way it affects her life. But Jemimah is also a person of faith, and today, she opens up about what it’s like to know that she is a new creation in Christ, all the while still dealing with the intrusive thoughts and negative effects of her mental health disorder.  She’ll also share with us some of the helpful–and not so helpful–things people have said in an attempt to support her, and how she’s learned to keep turning to God, even when it’s the last thing she feels like doing. We hope you’ll be encouraged by how Jemimah’s faith sustains her, even when her mind feels like it’s out of her control. -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube Support Anxious Faith -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

Psychology can sometimes be a tricky topic, especially within the church. The practice of psychology–or any form of therapy, really–is often seen as taboo; something to avoid because it might not align with our faith. So isn’t going to a professional for our problems suggesting that God isn’t enough? Does seeing a psychologist–especially one who might not be a Christian–go against our faith? Can the two go hand in hand? In this episode, we’re chatting with Chris–a familiar voice here at Anxious Faith. Previously, Chris has shared with us his own journey with depression (listen to that episode here), and how visits to a psychologist were a key part of helping him through it. -- Read the blog post to accompany this episode called, ‘If Jesus Is Enough, Why Would I Need Psychology?’ -- Anxious Faith website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on TikTok Subscribe on Youtube Support Anxious Faith -- Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.