How To Calm Anxiety and Find Peace
Kara Stout
3 min read ⭑
From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of
the Lord is to be praised!
Psalm 113:3
“You’re so strong.”
I remember hearing this repeatedly from friends and family as I walked through difficult experiences in my life: recovering from a carotid artery dissection, struggling with infertility, facing financial hardship, caring for my mother through her cancer journey and losing her after having already lost my dad.
But no matter what it may have looked like on the outside, I felt completely weak. My troubles weighed on my heart, my trust in God was tested, and my peace was shaken. I felt overwhelmed and anxious. In the morning, a rush of to-dos, pressure and thoughts flooded my mind upon waking.
Nik; Unsplash
At night, I felt the weight of everything I was carrying and would lie down feeling drained and tearful. Maybe you’ve felt the same?
The troubles weighed on my heart, yet what God taught me(and what he is continuing to teach me) in these seasons was how to calm anxiety and find his peace in all circumstances. He showed me it was possible to keep my heart untroubled by learning how to let my peace rest on Jesus alone.
Right now may be a time in your life that feels incredibly hard and overwhelming. You may have tried to hold on to peace, but circumstances and trials have made it difficult. Or maybe you have become so used to anxiety that you are accustomed to its presence. But oh, friend, there is a remedy for the troubles of your heart.
There is something so beautiful about a sunrise and a sunset to mark the beginning and ending of a day. The brilliant colors of the sunrise, orange and red, bring praise to the Lord for a new day that he has made. The sun itself brings praise to God for his greatness and splendor, in how he has created it to be precisely the ideal size, color and distance to support life on earth.
Each morning, I wake up Norah, our six-month-old baby girl, by opening the drapes in her nursery. Immediately, her face lights up with a big smile as she looks outside at the new day. And I say something along the lines of “Wow, look at what all God has made!” Together, we marvel as we look outside at the sun, sky, clouds and trees, her little face delighting in what she sees.
“Our intimacy with God deepens and grows when we praise him.”
Our intimacy with God deepens and grows when we praise him. Praising God means exalting him, giving him love and honor and thanksgiving. We praise him in our praying, in our working, in our resting, in our singing. We praise him by our thoughts, our words, our conversations, our testimonies. Praise expresses adoration for who he is: his majesty, his holiness, his mercy, his faithfulness, his grace, his forgiveness, his salvation.
Honest praise is beautiful in the sight of the Lord. We can praise him in our joy, in our thankfulness, in our sorrow, in our laughter, in our calm, in our tears, in our trials. Praise disrupts worry and uplifts an anxious, troubled heart. Today, may we focus on praising the Lord, adoring and exalting him from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Lord,
Each sunrise is a reminder of your steadfast love. The brilliant orange and red colors that light up the morning sky announce your majesty and faithfulness. From the rising of the sun to its setting, I praise you, giving you an offering of praise from hour to hour.
I praise you for your goodness, holiness, justice, mercy, grace, forgiveness and salvation. I praise you by my thoughts, words, conversations and testimony. I praise you in joy, in thankfulness, in sorrow, in laughter, in calm, in tears, in trials.
From birth I have relied on you; I will ever praise you (Psalm 71:6). I will praise you to my last breath (104:33)!
I love you. Amen.
Kara Stout is a writer, wife and new adoptive mom living in Los Angeles, California. Kara writes prayers and devotionals on her social media and has also written devotionals for Her True Worth, a women’s online ministry. Kara has her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Arizona State University and her master’s degree in counseling from Loyola University Chicago. After walking through a personal medical crisis and the loss of both of her parents to cancer, her life radically changed and her complete dependency on God for strength and peace became a non-negotiable. Her hope is to encourage women in their faith, pointing them to their Great Comforter and Greatest Companion.
Taken from “An Untroubled Heart” by Kara Stout. Copyright Kara Stout© (April 2025) by Zondervan. Used by permission of Zondervan.
