Overcoming Anxiety & DepressionSample

Focus Matters

Jesus tells us not to let our hearts be troubled, but most of us aren’t sure how to do that.

As we look for the secret to remain stable in the midst of whatever life throws at us, Peter shows us a key during a storm he went through.

Peter, along with the other disciples, was following Jesus' directions to head across the sea when a storm rose up. While they were struggling, Jesus came walking across the sea. As scared as they were, Peter called out, “If it's you, Jesus, tell me, come to you.” Jesus called him, and Peter stepped out of the boat and began walking on the water. But while walking on water, doing the impossible, he took his eyes off Jesus and placed them on the wind and the storm, filling him with fear and causing him to sink. He was already walking on the water, yet when his eyes went from Jesus to the storm, it changed what was happening in him. We tend to think that our feelings are just a response to the circumstances that we are in. Peter, in the middle of the storm, was walking on water until his focus shifted to the storm. When his focus turned to the problem, his feelings were filled with fear. His focus on the storm was more important than the power of the storm.

We often dismiss the importance our focus has on anxiety and depression, which can leave us feeling like helpless victims -- like we are physically broken and hopeless. Therefore, we feel our situation is permanent and/or out of our control, but that isn’t the case.

There is a lesson from technology that can help us. Commonly, technology doesn’t work the way it's supposed to. If you call for IT support, their standard direction is to reset your device. I have been sure there was a problem with my physical device, but most of the time, a good reset fixes the issue because the issue wasn’t with the hardware, but that the software wasn’t running right and needed to be reset. The same thing is true for many of us. We can think our bodies are broken, often citing that chemicals are out of balance. The chemicals may indeed be out of balance, but more often than broken hardware, what we need is a software reset. Where we look changes what our brain responds to and what chemicals it releases. As Peter looked at Jesus, he was filled with boldness, so much so that he was ready to step out of a boat onto the water, but when he looked at the storm, he was filled with fear. As we go on through this plan, we are going to look at areas where we can reset and rebalance. Let’s start with our focus, as our focus can reset our feelings.

Where are we focusing? Where we fix our hearts will fill us and affect how we feel. The scriptures are full of verses telling us to fix our eyes on Jesus, inviting us to come to Him and be filled with His Peace.