Psalm 34:8-17

“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”
Psalm 34:17

Despite the worries that our lives may be full of, God is in the midst of it all and He offers unexpected joy. Throughout middle school, and especially during COVID I would struggle with feeling very anxious, even when nothing was really wrong. Sometimes, this anxiety would take up so much space in my head that I would constantly be tired each day. I would pray to God that this feeling would go away, but it never seemed to. Eventually, I attended my first youth camp where I experienced God’s realness and true love for the first time. This was a pivotal point in the start of my relationship with God. Even after camp, I still struggled with feeling very anxious all the time, but I would constantly ask God to take that feeling away.

About a year had gone by, and there was a particular night in which I was feeling even more anxious than usual. I decided to sit down and pray to God that it would go away. I sat in prayer for a few minutes, and suddenly experienced such a sense of peace. I opened my eyes and began to really feel God’s presence with me. This particular moment brought so much joy to me because I could not believe the feeling of freedom I felt.

Since then, I have no longer felt the overwhelming anxious feeling that I once did. Of course I will still feel stressed at times, but the anxiety that once consumed me daily no longer does. God had unexpectedly delivered me that night from something that I struggled with for a few years.

Psalm 34:17 is a great reminder that God hears our prayers and sees our daily struggles. He offers so much joy and can deliver us from our troubles, even if it seems like He won’t at first. It is important to continue to seek God and cry out to Him, even when we feel like He is not answering. He can and will give us joy when we really least expect it!