Rebekah Lyons - Rhythms of Renewal Bible Study Guide: Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace and Purpose

Have you found yourself trapped in addiction? Feelings of unworthiness? Loneliness? Depression? Isolation? Consumerism? Rejection? Image management? If so, know this: God makes a way of escape. Rescue is ready and waiting, but so often, we are unwilling to take a closer look. We get lost in our loops, engage in the same habits over and over again expecting different results.

What do you do when anxiety hits, when it throbs in your ribs or steals your breath? When your words race and you try a desperate attempt to yawn and fill your lungs? What do you do when this is the norm of your everyday life? What do you do when relapse hits? Silence settles, distraction fades and you face panic, depression, or anxiety again? What do you do when you descend into anxiety after being panic-free for years?

These are the questions many of us are asking these days. According to the American Institute of Stress (AIS), 77 percent of the population experience physical symptoms associated with stress on a regular basis, 33 percent report living with extreme stress, and 48 percent indicate stress has a negative impact on their personal and professional lives.

This is why this five-session study is so important. As a society, we are in the throes of a collective panic attack. We nurse anxiety-chasing careers, hunger for security, and strive to keep up. Were afraid were not doing enough. We obsess over health, politics, and a host of other things we cant control. Thats when fatigue takes over. Fear rises. Finally, despair prevails.

As long as there is darkness in this world, well be tempted to be anxious and fearful. But over and over Scripture tells us not to fear. Jesus said, with piercing clarity, Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid ( John 14:27).

The command not to fear is given over three-hundred times in the Bible (some say 365 times, once for every day of the year). In fact, its a phrase used more than any other command in the Bible.

Here is the good news. With a little intentional effort, stress and anxiety can be traded for peace and purpose. It wont happen overnight, but it will happen. It might not be easy, but it can become your reality. That is what this five-session study is all about.

There are four biblical, God-given rhythms that help us replace fear with faith. They can teach us to nurture and sustain lasting mental health. These rhythms arent complicated. Each can be expressed in one word: Rest, Restore, Connect, and Create. These rhythms take practice. Simple acts like fasting from media (Rest), exercising (Restore), sharing a laugh (Connect), or recovering an old talent (Create) can help us break the anxiety-inducing cycles of the world around us. They can bring balance to our otherwise hectic lives. They will help us cultivate the spiritual and mental space needed to allow God to bring us past fear and into freedom.

These four rhythms fit naturally into the flow of life. The first two Rest and Restoreare input rhythms, rhythms that allow the peace of Jesus to fill us. The latter two Connect and Createare output rhythms, which pull us out of our own heads and connect us to the world around us.

My hope and prayer is that five or ten years from now youll look back on your own season riddled with anxiety and see how God brought you to a place of health and peace through the rhythms of renewal outlined in this video-based Bible study. Please join me in praying that this journey of learning in a small community of people will transform your life and theirs.

A fellow traveler on the road to renewal,

Rebekah Lyons