Title: Living Without Worry: How to replace anxiety with peace
Author: Timothy Lane
Summary
I was introduced to this book by a guest speaker at our church. We are currently in a series on fear, and the sermon was specifically on worry and anxiety as it relates to fear. This 140-page book is a quick read and tackles a lot of Scripture dealing with worry and peace. The author, Timothy Lane, specifically addresses worry in our past, future, and present.
Interesting Pieces
On pages 95-99, Lane addresses specific worries that we might deal with. He addresses finances, relationships, children, marriage and control. As a parent, I especially found the section on worry and children to be helpful. He poses questions to the reader including, “do you find yourself over-compensating to fill in gaps that were left open in your own childhood?” Then, he addresses past, present, and future worries. The past worries could be that we’ve already made mistakes as a parent that could be affecting our children. The present worries could be a decision our child has to make now or it could be a decision we need to make on our child’s behalf. Future worries include protecting our children from hurt in the future, or who our children might marry or if they would even marry at all. Lane encourages us to live for Jesus’s Kingdom. It’s okay to be concerned with these issues of parenting, but when we allow the concerns to become over-concerns, they turn into anxiety, and shows us which kingdom we are living for.
On page 135, Lane supplies the worry-spiral and its antidote. The phases are as follows:
- Worry and fear – God gets smaller and people/circumstances begin to control you
- Paralysis – start shutting down
- Isolation – you feel alone and abandoned
- Paranoia – you feel afraid of other people
- Hopelessness – nothing matters; why not give up
The antidote to these feelings can be found in Jesus’s counseling. He counsels the Apostle Paul in a vision when Paul was feeling anxious. In Acts 18:9-11, Jesus told Paul to not be afraid because He is with us, no one will attack and harm you, and Jesus has many people in this city. The primary focus of Lane’s antidote to worry and anxiety is working for Jesus’s eternal kingdom.
Review
Overall, I thought this book was helpful in tackling the topic of worry, fear and anxiety. It was very straight forward without much fluff which made it a little more difficult to read quickly. There are a few personal stories, reflections and illustrations from friends, but they are few and short. The author does a great job approaching Scripture when it comes to worry and anxiety. He uses Matthew 6 extensively, some Proverbs, some Psalms, Romans 7:15-8:1, Philippians 2:6-8, Hebrews 2:10-18, Luke 16:22-31, in addition to many other passages.
Where to buy
If you are interested in purchasing this book, you can find Living Without Worry by Timothy Lane on Amazon
