They Found Help in Coping with Life’s Anxieties
EVERY person alive has had his own set of anxieties. But there is a way of life that helps people to cope with such painful distress or mental uneasiness. Yes, it is possible to deal successfully with anxiety. How? By pursuing the Christian way of life.
Illness causes many people great anxiety. “I was in a terrible state with my health when Jehovah’s Witnesses first called on me,” said one woman in England, adding: “My nerves were in a very bad condition and I was taking 140 nerve tablets a month, besides smoking 40 cigarettes a day. The message of hope from the Bible was an enormous incentive to give up these habits, but it was a great struggle.” She did succeed, however, and stated: “With Jehovah’s help and spirit, I have been able to come in line with his requirements and I am looking forward to perfect health soon in his new order.”
Peace has been so elusive that some have sought it with anxious concern. “I was looking for peace,” said a certain young man in Canada, who also sought “true brotherly love.” He investigated various religions, but was disappointed. In time, he “became more and more a slave to drugs,” twice attempting to commit suicide. While in a hospital recuperating after the second attempt, the young man talked with an individual who was studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Moved to read the Scriptures, this young person was impressed by the words of Joshua 1:8, and decided that he would follow what was said in the Bible. “Consequently,” he reported, “I washed myself, got my hair cut, and immediately stopped taking drugs.” Witnesses visited him regularly, and soon the young man was baptized in symbol of his dedication to Jehovah God. During an interview on the day of his baptism, he told a convention audience: “I have found peace and true brotherly love.” Yes, his anxious search for peace and brotherly love had been rewarded by happy association with those pursuing the Christian way of life.
A broken marriage was just one of many anxiety-producing circumstances in the life of a certain young woman in the United States. Why, as a 10-year-old child of an alcoholic mother in a broken home, she had attempted to commit suicide! In later years, she wondered, ‘What is the meaning and purpose of my life?’ After the final breakup of her marriage to one man, the young woman again entered wedlock and came in touch with the Bible’s message through her mother-in-law, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Eventually, this resulted in dedication to God and baptism. Due to the loving concern shown by members of the congregation and the personal assistance of a particular Christian sister, this woman could say: “I feel for the first time in my life that I am a whole person. Before, my life was a wasted product of a bad environment. Now, however, I have a brand-new beginning. Rather than wanting to take my life, I have something to give to others . . . I’ve found a living hope in my personal relationship with Jehovah.” Indeed, she had discovered the meaning of life, having found that “living hope.”
As noted earlier, the Scriptures promise a day when distressing anxieties will exist no more. Even now, however, through Jehovah’s provisions many have found spiritual help in coping with life’s anxieties.