My Personal Testimony of Deliverance
By: Linda Long, founder of God’s Cure for Anxiety website

I remember as a child having my first panic attack. I worried so much about my mom and about her dying that I would have anxiety when she would become sick or leave me to go to the grocery. My mother was my best friend and I was so scared that she would die and leave me behind. My parents raised me to fear God and to keep him as my focus in life. As time passed and I grew older, I began to drift away from the presence of God. Through many disappoints and discouragement, I began to experience a life of drinking alcohol and partying. I would use the alcohol to mask the pain that I was feeling in my life. The anxiety continued to follow me and therefore, I would drink more and reach for things to take the anxiety away. This behavior went on for 14 years. I found myself in a horrible pit and didn’t see any way out. I had always known that God was the answer for everything, but satan had convinced me that God didn’t care about me and wouldn’t help me because I had failed so many times in life. I didn’t have anywhere to turn except to God. I surrendered my life to Christ once more and started on a new journey.

In 1996, the anxiety returned and I came under a horrific attack in my mind. My mind was engulfed with fear. I feared that I would lose my mind or have an emotional breakdown. The more I obsessed these thoughts the more intense the attack became. I couldn’t sleep because my dreams were tormented too. Panic attacks became the norm for me. My heart would race, my hands would become sweaty, my mind was so consumed with fear that I couldn’t concentrate on the simple things in life.

God placed a wonderful mentor in my life. Her name was Mildred Collins Dalton. She was an older woman who had preached the gospel for many years. She informed me that she could help me because she had walked through the same attack many years earlier. Oh what a relief it was to hear that someone else had walked through the same thing and came out on the other side. She taught me that God’s Word is more powerful than anything and that God watches over his Word to perform it. She began to teach me about sowing good seeds of light into my life. I began to pray and stand on the promises of God and His Word became medicine for my weary soul.

I began to quote God’s Word over myself every day. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 When I found this scripture, I stood on it with everything in me. Every time I would start to feel panicky, I would quote this scripture over myself. You see, I didn’t have to do anything but stand on God’s Word. God’s Word is medicine to those whose find it. Of course you can’t claim God’s promises if you don’t serve him, but if you are a believer; then it will work for you. I began to search the Bible for God’s promises for me. I wrote all of them down and quoted them daily over myself. I continued to pray and ask God for his strength and help. In the midst of the storm, I used the sword of the spirit, which is God’s Word to defeat the devil. This did not happen overnight, but baby step by baby step I walked out of the attack. Every day I became a little stronger and finally I looked back and I was out of the attack. I renewed my mind with God’s Word, and became victorious. I built my faith by quoting His Word. “So then, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17.

I want to encourage you to make up your mind that you are going to stand, no matter how hard the battle may seem. “Put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11.