Anxious: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry by Amy Simpson (IVP)
Turn on the television, listen to talk radio or read the news for a healthy dose of worry encouragement. In Anxious: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry, Amy Simpson provides a practical but not-very-easy process for living free of anxiety. However, as the wife of a licensed certified professional counselor, she emphasizes her book is not for those who worry due to psychological or medical reasons and is not a substitute for professional help.
Simpson defines worry as the “practice of indulging in fear, clinging to it, feeding and serving it.” She then asks, “Should you be worried?” The balance of the volume outlines reasons Christians should not be anxious in a worried world. Chapter titles include: Frantic, Worry’s Many Destructive Powers, What God Says About Worry, It’s All About Perspective, The Future Belongs to God, The Fallacy of Possession and Who Do You Trust?
Simpson, the senior editor of Leadership Journal, fills the pages with strong biblical examples and scriptural references applied in appropriate ways. She emphasizes not worrying doesn’t equal failure to dream, plan or prepare. Instead, she suggests picturing the future with “God’s love, grace and care for you and the people you love.”
Anxious provides sound advice for worriers, those who live with worriers, those who minister to worriers and those “who aren’t convinced worry is a problem in their lives,” because it is for someone they know. After all, as Christians, the future belongs to God, and worry won’t change a thing.
Kathy Robinson Hillman, president
Baptist General Convention of Texas
Waco
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