"The Time Came to Sign"

I get anxious fairly often, and for the longest time I believed that the anxiety I was feeling was the Holy Ghost sending me impressions to do (or not do) certain things. One experience that helped me begin to move past that idea was when I changed housing as a college student.

The place I was moving to I didn’t know much about and hadn’t even met all the roommates (which was a big deal for me since I was coming from a very toxic roommate situation). Yet, I felt peaceful about it. When I prayed I felt that it was what I should do. However, when the time came to sign, I felt an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and dread. It was more than I had ever felt before, and, honestly, any other day I would have completely backed away, believing God was telling me it was a terrible decision. Thing was, He had already told me it was good; so before me was the dilemma: do I trust the answer I had been given in peace, calm, and joy, or was this new feeling of anxiety and fear the “new” answer? Surprising myself (considering how I responded to anxiety at the time) I decided to trust the peace I had once felt, ignoring the anxiety, and signed the contract. In the end, living there was a life-changing experience. The roommates I had and the people I met became lifelong friends, and I’ve felt multiple times that the Lord guided me to those wonderful people.

From that experience, I believe, will all my heart, the scripture in Galatians 5:22 describing the fruits of the spirit as love, joy, peace, and other amazing feelings—not anxiety, fear, and dread.