used to wake up feeling anxious in the morning. Tension in my back. An empty, queasy feeling in the stomach, a feeling almost like choking or drowning. The worries of the day burdened me already as I woke.

In the middle of this anxiety, God came into my life in some unique ways. First I met a counselor who helped me talk and pray through the anxiety. A prescription helped me through some depression and anxiety related to it.

I don’t want to discount how valuable counseling and medicine were in my healing. But what truly keeps me generally free from anxiety on a daily basis is what happened to me when I was 1-month-old. That event included water and these words: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The most anxiety freeing moment of my life was simple, beautiful and life-giving. I was baptized.