• Approximately 40 million American adults ages 18 and older, or about 18.1 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have an anxiety disorder.
• Anxiety disorders frequently co-occur with depressive disorders or substance abuse.
• Most people with one anxiety disorder also have another anxiety disorder. Nearly three-quarters of those with an anxiety disorder will have their first episode by age 21.5” (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml)

The enemy of anxiety which tends to paralyze, handicap, and hinder progress seems to have a powerful stronghold on many people as the statistics seem to indicate. The number of people suffering from this plight is not only limited to non-Christians but seems to also attack believers. It is no wonder that Paul addressed the issue in Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  For this reason Jeremiah Burroughs offered this extremely insightful description to Christian Contentment:“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.4 This description is a box of precious ointment and very comforting and useful for troubled hearts in troubled times and conditions.” (Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare jewel of Christian Contentment, p.3) My friend and beloved learn this art of contentment. Be watchful of its attacks on you. Let God be your strength!              

Pastor Jim Cater