Rachael Dymski - Anxiety Interrupted: Invite Gods Peace Into Your Questions, Doubts, and Fears

Faced with anxiety and depression in record numbers, too many young people today feel the church hasnt prepare them for the tough questions life creates. Too many trendy writers respond with appealing answers that sound pretty but dont match reality. Rachael Dymskis deep, compelling writing remarries beauty and truth to help readers face a world that is unmistakably tragic but, like every one of us, inescapably part of the divine story.

Brian Brown, director, The Anselm Society

Anxiety Interrupted is a treasured guide for those of us who struggle with worry. Rachael Dymskis chapter on motherhood in which she shares her fears, first about becoming a mother and then about raising her daughter in a fallen world, will speak to mothers at all stages. Rachael asks a question many mothers want to askAm I responsible for my childs salvation? Rachael writes honestly and tenderly, encouraging us to see anxiety as a gift that proves were alive. Her salve is the reminder that God is good. This book provides strong encouragement to those struggling with anxiety. Through its gentle pages we learn its okay to question as long as we remember God is the answer.

Julianne Palumbo, author of 50/50, founder and
editor-in-chief of Mothers Always Write

In a Christian culture skilled at dodging the hard questions lingering behind anxiety, stress, and depression, Rachael Dymski invites us to lean in and embrace them. With the tender touch of gentle curiosity, Rachael draws us into the invitation to live the questions themselves. As we seek God in the midst of the unknown and unfinished of our lives, we find courage, freedom, and joy-filled inspiration to continue along the transformational, question-packed journey of life with God.

Mary Vandel Young, MDiv, executive director of JourneyMates

I believe good books are food for the soul, and Rachael Dymskis Anxiety Interrupted doesnt disappoint! If you have ever struggled with anxiety, then you know the terror of panic and the paralyzing fear that comes unannounced and uninvitedin public, at home, even in the quiet of our thoughts. The feelings of doubt and lostness that accompany anxiety can bring physical symptoms that interrupt our lives and rock our beliefs. Rachaels words are refreshingly real, and you immediately feel a warmth and connection with her. You feel a sense of tearful relief that you have finally found a friend who understands the silent, mysterious journey youve been hiding; youve found someone who is asking the same hard questions. For every person who wrestles in the middle of the night with the crushing intensity of anxiety, Rachaels words will be oxygen to your soul. For every person who struggles to make sense of anxiety in the context of our faith and who has more questions than answers, this book will be a source of comfort and strength. Understanding that anxiety can even be an unlikely gift recalibrates your thoughts and will refresh your spirit. Whether youre a teenager, a new mother, a struggling parent, or a successful professional, Rachaels story will bring truth, calm, and hope for your own tomorrow and for those in your life who seek your counsel.

Anne Deeter Gallaher, owner and CEO of Deeter Gallaher Group LLC
and author of Women in High Gear and Students in High Gear

anxiety
interrupted

anxiety
interrupted

Invite Gods Peace into Your
Questions, Doubts & Fears

RACHAEL DYMSKI

An imprint of Iron Stream Media
Birmingham, Alabama

New Hope Publishers

5184 Caldwell Mill Rd.

St. 204-221

Hoover, AL 35244

NewHopePublishers.com

An imprint of Iron Stream Media

2019 by Rachael Dymski

All rights reserved. First printing 2019.

Printed in the United States of America.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher.

New Hope Publishers serves its authors as they express their views, which may not express the views of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dymski, Rachael, 1989- author.

Title: Anxiety interrupted : invite Gods peace into your questions, doubts, and fears / Rachael Dymski.

Description: First [edition]. | Birmingham : New Hope Publishers, 2019.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018050134 | ISBN 9781563091384 (permabind)

Subjects: LCSH: AnxietyReligious aspectsChristianity. | Trust in GodChristianity.

Classification: LCC BV4908.5 .D96 2019 | DDC 248.8/6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018050134

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-56309-138-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-56309-141-1

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To my mom and dad, who held my questions first;
to Andrew, who brought them to light;
to the Fellows and Dinner Club,
for always making room.

Contents

This little book would never have come about without the help and patience of a great number of people.

Thank you to New Hope Publishers, for your time, patience, and kindness with this manuscript. Every department has been so wonderful to work with, and I truly feel like this work has been handled with great care and consideration. Thank you specifically to Reagan Jackson and Ramona Richards for your keen editorial eyes and to Tina and Meredith for all your amazing work in the marketing department.

Thank you to Dan Balow and Steve Laube Agency for believing in my writing and standing behind me this whole way.

Thank you to my classmates and professors at Chatham University for teaching me to listen to the words.

Thank you to the people of Liberti Church for being a home for Andrew and me in Pennsylvania. We love you and are so grateful for the ways you have challenged and encouraged us.

To my family: thank you, Mom, for being my biggest and best cheerleader, and Dad, for engaging any topic. Thank you to my siblings and their spouses, Laura, Mike, Amy, Kevin, Matt, and Liz, for living out these questions with me, as family and as friends. Thank you to Jim and Lisa for watching my daughter, providing meals, and getting me through the thick of this writing. Thank you, Andrew, for everything else. This book is as much yours as it is mine.

What do you think of when you think about the ocean?

Though my childhood home near Buffalo, New York, is nowhere near it, I grew up at the ocean in a lot of ways. Im part of an island family. We can trace our family tree back to the 1500s, when we inhabited what is now known as Englands Channel Islands.

My mother was raised on a small, sea-locked patch of land fourteen miles off the coast of France called Jersey, an island that, in theory, belongs to the English Crown but, in lifestyle and culture, bears greater resemblance to its French counterpart. Its the kind of place a nomad would visit, because as soon as you step onto the islands shores, you immediately feel as though you are part of something. The island brims with turbulent history: for centuries its power passed back and forth among nations. If you put your ear to the ground, you could still hear the hurried footsteps of the Vikings, the victory calls of King Johns men in 1204, and the eerie hush brought over by Nazi Germany. And yet, all this time, there were still cows to milk and potatoes to grow, so Jersey maintained its down-to-earth quaint quality that brings thousands of tourists to the island today.