Anxiety affects 40 million people, or almost 20% of us, right here in the most affluent nation in the world. The more we have, the more we try to control everything around us. But are we ever truly in control? Seems impossible in this crazy world we live in.

The price tag for treating this disorder is almost $42 billion, or over one-third of the total healthcare costs in the U.S and it’s growing every year. The causes are many, but a leading cause is related to social media and the continual barrage of bad news that we can barely keep up with. We wake up with political discord and end the day with mass murders at grade schools, churches or concerts.

Then our life goals that we set years ago keep getting pushed further down the finish line, as we compare ourselves to everyone else’s bright and beautiful life on Facebook.

With the onslaught of overwhelming news, the daily ups and downs in the market, and our expectations of life being altered on a daily basis, fear starts creeping into our brains. We allow these fears to keep us from living a healthy life. We fear going on a trip to a foreign country, or we stop flying for fear of a terrorist attack. Or simply, we worry that we won’t have enough money to pay the bills at the end of the month.

Fear and anxiety are often thought of as the same thing. But fear creates a fight or flight response which often saves our lives. We see a snake and we run the other way. We hear a rustling noise outside our house, and we quickly double check the door locks.

But anxiety is a constant loop of unreasonable worrying that eventually consumes every part of our lives. We worry about things we cannot control. Silly things that won’t matter a few months from now, and yet they are all-consuming at this point in time.

The times that I truly ask God to take control over my life, my life slows down and my body and mind find a much-needed respite, hard to describe. He takes my overwhelming worries and needs, and replaces them with an all consuming peace deep inside.

We all have control issues and it’s hard to truly let go. It’s time to put God first in our lives, and make our loved ones more important than “screen time” and social media.

Take a deep breath, stop worrying about the stuff we won’t remember six months from now and let God take control of your life.