Anxiety about seeing family this Thanksgiving
Many of us have anxiety about seeing family during Thanksgiving.
As a sincere Christ-follower, a part of my anxiety is a feeling of inadequacy as I engage with non-believing family members.
I feel the pressure to have all the right words and present my faith with a lot of wisdom and eloquence.
But I was encouraged this morning by 1 Corinthians 2 as Paul writes,
“And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
As I read this and felt anxiety rumbling in my chest, I started to pray,
“Lord, free me from this anxiety that’s rooted in the belief that you need any strength or wisdom from me in order to move in hearts. May my life this Thanksgiving be a demonstration of your Spirit and the power of God.”
To be clear, I’m not saying that this frees me from speaking words of faith this Thanksgiving. I want to speak words that share my belief in God’s love through Christ.
This scripture and prayer are freeing me from anxiety by reminding me that it’s the power of God (not my ability to come up with perfect, fancy words) that will move the hearts of my family members. It reminds me that praying for my family members is even more important than scripting the “right” words to say. It reminds me that loving and serving my family members this Thanksgiving is just as important as engaging them in conversations of faith.
Anyway, I wanted to share in case you might also have low-grade anxiety about engaging with non-believing family members this Thanksgiving. For many of us, family is one of the most wonderful things and simultaneously one of the most challenging things in our lives.
Email us by using our contact form if you’d like us to pray for you as you enter this holiday season with your family. It can be as simple “pray for me.” It would be our honor to pray for you. And please pray for us, too.
May our lives be a demonstration of the Spirit and power of God!
