Freed from Anxiety, Samuel Lin

I was saved and baptized in the U.S. in October 1989 when I was still in school. At that time, my heart was not fully for the Lord; rather, my school and my future had a firm grip on me. Becoming a Christian seemed to be merely a nice feature to add to my life. Nevertheless, the mercy of God did not give up on me. A few believers in my locality would come to my house to “study” with me every Thursday and were very patient with my “broken English.” Although I always made it difficult for them with too many questions, unconsciously I was supplied by their feeding. I am able to recite memory verses today mainly due to those study times.

A real turn began when I graduated and started to look for a job. After a couple of months of frustration I still could not find a suitable job. My visa was about to expire and I was on the verge of being sent back to my country. I was filled with anxiety. Right at this time a brother loaned me the book The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by Watchman Nee. As I read, it started to dawn on me that the Bible is so real. The God of Abraham is my God. The faith of Abraham is my faith because faith comes from God. I am today the same as the supplanting Jacob. What God did to transform Jacob is what He is willing to do to transform me today. At this point I came to realize that my God is both real and living.

By God's mercy I finally found a job. I thought that the trials and the tests had passed and now it was the time to enjoy the Lord. Instead, another trial arrived unexpectedly. In the midst of tremendous difficulties, my faith was strengthened because of the previous experiences. But as the trials continued, my trust in God was weakened and I became discouraged. One day God spoke to me, “In nothing be anxious.” Receiving this word, I suddenly had the confidence that God would deliver me out of this hardship. I was not very clear about the significance of that phrase until I was in a home meeting where we read in Philippians 4:6-7, “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; And the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” By the help of the footnotes in the Recovery Version of the Bible I realized that I don't need to be mindless to be free from anxiety. Rather, I can be free from anxiety “by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,” and that I needed to “let [my] requests be made known to God.” “Be made known to God” implies “in the fellowship with God.” According to the footnote on this verse in the Recovery Version, “The result of practicing fellowship with God in prayer is that we enjoy the peace of God. The peace of God is actually God as peace infused into us through our fellowship with Him by prayer, as the counterpoise to troubles and the antidote to anxiety.” Thank the Lord that I am so fortunate to possess this study Bible; and even more, I feel so blessed that I can know this true and living God in the local church.