There is a specific kind of helplessness that comes with watching someone you love get bound by the invisible, heavy chains of debilitating anxiety. There was a season, not too long ago, when my husband and I watched one of our daughters become completely entangled in those heavy chains. It was a terrifying storm of the mind, and she was trapped right in the center of it. The waves of panic and fear whipped against her, causing her to become helpless and watchful—paralyzed by an internal enemy she didn’t know how to fight. My husband and I held her tight, whispering truth into the darkness, assuring her that she would be okay and doing everything we could to anchor her mind in safety.

When you are in danger, you run to safety. In the same way, God has given us a warning of the dangers of this fallen world, and He tells us to take cover and find safety. Where? In Him. In the secret place. Psalm 91:2 so beautifully declares:

“I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” (Psalm 91:2 NKJV)

The Psalmist enjoyed divine protection through a close, abiding relationship with God, treating Him as a safe haven and spiritual stronghold during times of trouble, much like King David running to a fortified place in battle. A stronghold is a location in battle where you can take cover to protect yourself from the dangers of war. It is a safe place in a dangerous environment.

How do you know if God is your refuge? Well, you need to ask yourself: what do you run to when you are in trouble? What do you run to when you feel the suffocating weight of anxiety and fear? What do you run to when your thoughts are racing?

If you are someone who struggles with anxiety, you know that it is not just “worry”; it is a full-body experience. Your chest tightens, your heart races, and your mind convinces you that disaster is imminent, even when you are sitting in a perfectly safe room. It can feel deeply isolating, like you are trapped on an island of panic while the rest of the world goes on as normal. In those moments, the desire for immediate relief is overwhelming.

Are you running to God, or are you running to scroll mindlessly on your phone? Are you running to phone a friend? Are you running to pornography? Are you running to distraction? Are you running to alcohol? Are you running to overworking, overeating, or overspending just to numb the pain? Because those are strongholds too. They aren’t very good ones, but they are strongholds nonetheless. They are the faulty shelters we build to escape our internal storms.

Do you know why God wants us to tear down these idols in our lives? It’s not because He wants us to have boring, unexciting lives. It’s because He wants to protect us. It’s because He knows the distractions cannot provide the true healing, peace, and divine protection that He can. Yet, when panic sets in, we still run to them, don’t we?

Friends, we must call the Lord our refuge, our hiding place, our secret place, our stronghold. If we don’t, we leave ourselves completely exposed to the enemy’s attacks, and we remain trapped in danger. When we rely on worldly escapes, we forfeit the promises of God’s protection found in Psalm 91. The false strongholds of this world will cause us to forget His truth. That’s why we keep running back to them—we have forgotten who He is.

I was sitting in my office at the church when my phone rang. When I answered and heard my daughter’s voice, it was fractured panic. Everything inside me shifted instantly into survival mode. She told me she was right outside, unable to come in. You do not just walk outside to meet your child in a moment like that; your spirit sprints! My heart hammered against my ribs, gripped by the terrifying knowledge that she was drowning mid-air just outside the doors, and I could not force air into her lungs.

When I stepped outside and saw her car, the sight broke my heart in two. She looked so small, curled up against the weight of a world she could no longer carry. Sliding into the seat next to her, the air inside the car felt heavy. It was thick with a desperation that only a parent truly understands.

For a mama, sitting there beside her was an agonizing form of torture. Every maternal instinct screams at you to fix it. You want to reach inside her mind and tear out the weeds of anxiety yourself. You want to shield her with your own body. You want to trade places with her so she can breathe easily while you take the blows instead. But in the parking lot, I was forced into a brutal realization: I could not fight this specific monster for her. I could only sit with her.

So there we sat. I held onto her as we talked through the panic. My tears mingled with hers, because her pain was my pain. A mother’s heart is an echo chamber for her child’s suffering. While we wept, my soul went to war on her behalf. Silence may have filled the gaps between our sobs, but my mind was shouting to the heavens. I looked at my beautiful girl trapped in that terrible, suffocating pit, and I begged God to intervene.

“Take the darkness from her,” I prayed. It was a desperate, silent plea repeating with every breath. “Rescue her, Lord. Bring her out of this pit.” And then I began praying Psalm 91 over her: “This I declare about the Lord: You alone are her refuge, her place of safety; you are our God, and we trust you. Rescue her from every trap and protect her from this horrible disease.”

I was standing in the gap, lifting her up to the only Power bigger than the shadow looming over her. I was pleading for a miracle while doing the holy, heavy work of simply staying present, trusting that our tears were a language God understood. Hear me when I say, God hears the desperate cries of a mother in a parking lot, and He is right there in the front seat with you, too!

This is why I love Psalm 91. It reminds us of the promises of divine protection given to those who love Him and dwell in the shelter of the Most High. If you find yourself off track today, paralyzed by anxiety, and you need a reminder of the promises you can hold onto, Psalm 91 verses 14-16 outline them perfectly to encourage you to make God your true dwelling place. It reads:

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16 NIV)

Friend, unlock God’s divine protection today by abiding in Him. Make Him your refuge and stronghold, and hold tightly to His promises. And when you see the people you love starting to get gripped by fear, remind them of this truth. In this world, we will face internal and external storms of all kinds, but we never have to face them unbound or unprotected.

No matter how dark the night gets, or how heavy the air in your car feels, the shadow has a boundary. The enemy must flee at the sound of the King’s name. Take heart, keep watch, and hold on tight. The Deliverer is on His way, and He is rewriting your story from captivity into a victory song.

In hope, faith, and fierce maternal love,

Pastor Jen,  A Mama in the Trenches