Linda Dillow returns to this version of 1 Timothy 6:15 over and over in her book, Calm My Anxious Heart. I finally read this book after recommending it to several young women – even giving it as a gift – on the recommendation of my friend Deborah. I gave it to one of my sisters and then she gave me a copy! Seems a lot of us are struggling with anxiety, fear, depression, and worry. Will my kids “turn out” ? How will we pay the bills? Does my husband truly love me? How will I make the grade? Will the house sell? Will I ever find a job? Am I attractive? Is God pleased with me? Will the cancer lead to death? And then sometimes we just can’t seem to put a finger on exactly what the source of our anxiety is – we just feel it, and it can consume and debilitate.

Dillow’s simple answer to all of these questions and more is contentment and trust. She uses numerous references to Scripture, personal stories, and stories of women she has worked alongside on the mission field of Eastern Europe. In the beginning of the book her stories discuss contentment in circumstances, in relationships, with self, and with material things. Toward the end of the book she discusses trusting God with the “what ifs,” “if onlys,” and the “whys.” In a chapter entitled “Worry Is Like a Rocking Chair” Dillow asks the question, “Is anxiety a sin?” She then quotes Matthew 6:25-34 in which Jesus says to stop worrying five times! She reminds us that Jesus is calling worry and anxiety a faith problem. She doesn’t leave us feeling guilty over our sin, but rather relates to the reader through her own journey of learning practical and biblical ways of overcoming them. How often do I forget the simple truths of trust, walk by faith, not sight, and cast anxiety on Jesus? This was such a basic, practical, and refreshing book!