Following the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the first church began to learn how to walk in the Spirit. There were various aspects to this. It began with personal transformation and the cultivation of the Spirit’s fruit in their lives. It then extended to empowerment and the cultivation of the Spirit’s gifts. Amongst the fruit of the Spirit, peace was a prized commodity as this first Christian society lived daily in a social and cultural climate of uncertainty. They were heavily taxed by the Romans, and it’s to be expected that many felt anxious. What is anxiety? Anxiety is a stressful state resulting from the anticipation of danger. When we are faced with clearly recognised, real and immediate dangers, the anxiety response can help us respond effectively. But when anxiety results from imagined scenarios, arises from unresolved unconscious conflicts, or remains unresolved for a period, perhaps because of sustained environmental stress, psychological or even physical damage may be caused. Together with depression, anxiety ranks as one of the two most prevalent mental health conditions in the world today. Anxiety is like a straight jacket. By its very nature, anxiety a exerts a strong restraining influence on large swathes of humanity, holding them back from constructive action and robbing them of peace, productivity, and happiness. So often, our response to unhealthy and inappropriate anxiety leads to the omission of helpful and necessary behaviour and the substitution of defensive, unhelpful, or even damaging behaviour. Let us bring our anxieties to the One who alone can bring calm in the storms of life.