ABC Attributes of God

Disclaimer: This post is meant to reflect personal education and experience with anxiety and express my personal beliefs. This in no way should replace the advice of a trained medical physician. If you are experiencing anxiety in any way, please seek the opinion of your primary care doctor or a trained medical professional.

I used to suffer from a lot of anxiety and panic attacks. It got so bad I considered medication which my primary care doctor recommended. But in my heart I felt like I had to try one more thing first, Christian counseling. For me, I knew I couldn’t trust my mind with any counselor, I needed to entrust it to someone else who also has the same fear of God, love of Jesus and the same beliefs as I do. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.” (ESV translation). Other translations say, “guard your heart” or “guard your mind”. So I told my doctor I first wanted to try counseling. He agreed sometimes counseling and regular exercise could be beneficial.

For me, counseling really helped. I learned a lot about our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Your sympathetic nervous system is responsible for engaging our “fight, flight, or freeze” response when we feel danger. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible to conserve energy. It is the process of “rest and digest”. When we experience a lot of anxiety it is likely because we’ve strengthened our sympathetic response. Like a muscle we have to learn to exercise our parasympathetic response!

This is over simplified, but I learned that when we engage our sympathetic nervous system (“fight, flight or freeze”) our emotions have a tendency to take over. What we could do to help regain composure is to think and exercise our rational part of the brain. There are several things we can do, like practicing being present and mindful asking ourselves what can I see, taste, feel and hear? And describe those things in detail. This trains our brain to think.

Anxieties do creep up, but for me now it is far less often and I feel equipped with the right tools. When I find myself in a situation where I feel anxious I stop and pray and assess my current situation. I pray to God (often this is like having a conversation with my dad) and say, “Dad, I praise you for being the best dad. For being a trustworthy Father. Bless your name! Dad, I’m feeling a lot of anxiety right now, am I in real danger? Or is this perceived danger?” I also pray for His healing hand to heal me from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. Sometimes my prayer is this short and sometimes it is a lot longer. If I conclude I am not in real danger I remember it is time to think rationally. My favorite tool for rational thinking is the ABC attributes of God.

What is the ABC attributes of God? I’m so glad you asked! It is when you go down the alphabet and name attributes of God (these attributes come from passages in The Bible) that begin with that letter. If I can’t think of one in the moment I do skip to the next letter. Doing this encourages rational thinking. But what is better than that – I start to focus on God and who He is. This helps me magnify God and not my problem! It helps me remember who He is, all that He’s done for me, that He is with me and loves me.

Often when I do the list is never exactly the same. I hope this helps inspire you and helps you feel grounded and focused on God the next time you encounter a situation that might produce anxiety. Here are some examples of attributes of God to get you started, but this list is not exhaustive:

Abba, Almighty, Alpha and Omega, All powerful
Beginning and the end, Brave, Bold
Counselor, Christ, Compassionate, Cornerstone
Deliverer
Exalted, Emmanuel – God with us
Father, Forgiver, Faithful
Good, Glorious, Gracious, Gentle
Healer, Hope, Holy, Holy Spirit, Helper
Infinite, Incredible, Intelligent
Just, Jesus, Judge, Jealous for me, Joy, Jehovah, Jireh
King of kings, Kind
Lord of lords, Love, Lion and Lamb, Life
Mighty to save, Majestic, Merciful,
Noble, Near
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, One
Peace, Patient, Perfect, Protector, Provider
Rock of ages
Strength, Shelter, Savior, Shepherd, Sovereign, Self-controlled
Transcendent, Trustworthy, the Truth the way and the life
Ultimate, Undivided, United, Unrivaled
Vast
Worthy, Wise, Wonderful
X? (Anyone have one for x – if so drop it in the comments below)
YHWH
Z?

When I’m done with the attributes I often move back into prayer. I confess in prayer I’m feeling anxious and I ask for the Holy Spirit’s help to put my trust in the Lord who never fails!

I thank God for every day and every breath He’s given me this far. And I tell Him if He’s decided to take me home today I trust in Him. I trust in Him to have a plan for all the detail. I ask Him for peace. And if He’s not done with me here on earth yet than I thank Him for that and I ask for His help to put my energy where He wants me to be, in His will and His plan.

If I’m being honest, I think at times I’ve made my health an idol above God. Above reading His word and knowing Him and trusting Him. I’ve made my kids idols. My husband.
So every time I notice I do that (and I try to be aware if I am) I confess I’ve made an idol and ask for forgiveness and I try to lay everything at His feet.

It can be super humbling. But it also helps me realize the magnitude of how wonderful He is. It reminds me of how rich in grace He is and how He literally lavishes us in grace all the time. It’s made me so much more grateful for each day.

I pray this blesses you and you find peace in The Prince of Peace, Jesus!