Guest Post With Janel | Journaling Away My Anxiety

Hello Everyone! My name is Janel (@janelandherbible) and I am from St. Louis! I have a passion for Jesus, my family, adoption, art and design. I am an elementary school art teacher by day and a Bible Journaler by night. I stumbled upon Shanna Noel and Illustrated Faith about a month ago and not a day goes by that I’m not all up in my Bible now :)

I have struggled with panic attacks and anxiety for almost half of my life. This “thorn” of mine altered my life completely. There are moments of fear, sadness, “what if’s” times a million, and straight up freaking out. I do want to preface all of this by saying that I have come to be thankful for my anxiety, that I, in some ways, feel blessed with this “thorn.” Without anxiety and panic attacks I would never have come to trust and rely on the Lord as much as I have. My relationship with the Lord would not be as intimate and transparent if I wasn’t struggling through my days.

The opposite of anxiety is faith (look it up, it’s true).

And nothing has helped me manage and overcome anxiety like my Faith has.

There are key Bible verses that play on repeat in my mind while I am feeling anxious. These verses are repeated to me by my husband, they are written on cute prints from Etsy hanging on my walls, they are typed in my “Notes” on my phone, and scribbled on index cards in the bottom of my purse.

Naturally, when I first got my Journaling Bible last month, they were the first verses that I Illustrated! Bringing these verses to life, through art, on these pages, has ingrained them in my mind even more. I can visualize the page that I created and I feel at peace.

I love creating a visual reminder of God’s amazing promises. He has blessed me over and over with His care and concern for my heart. I created a fun little reminder for you to pin as a reference of where you can find some of these verses in your Bible.