Anxiety has a significant action element. Watch carefully and you’ll observe that people generally act differently when they’re anxious. Typically, they will either move towards the problem, challenge, or issue (that’s what we call the ‘fight’ response), or they will seek to move away from it into a place they see as safer (that’s what we call the ‘flight’ response). Basically, we do things to try to remove or reduce anxiety. Healing options here include taking action to remove the threat or taking action to avoid the threat. Which is it to be? It’s not always easy to see, and often we make a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ that may be unhelpful, perhaps fighting when it would be wiser to leave, or running when it would be better to stay. In short, our initial behaviour in response to anxiety may need to change. When it comes to choosing the best path of action, we can learn a lot from our own experience, so that we get better at judging whether to fight or flee. But however experienced we may be, the best response of all will always be to go to God for His guidance. Stop and listen. What does He say? The course He prescribes will always be the best, but it may not be the action that we would have taken if we relied on our own judgement alone.