Anxiety (Full Episode - Archive)

Anxiety (Full Episode - Archive)

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety when anxiety keeps spiking? This archived Relational Recovery conversation with Wes Thompson and Austin Hill leans into that question by going straight to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Instead of giving neat, breezy answers, the two hosts sit honestly with the tension between faith and fear.

Wes reads the passage where Jesus says, “do not be anxious about your life,” and shares how the images of birds and lilies feel calming, helping him remember “oftentimes the things that I am fretting about… I forget the big picture.” Austin admits he used to treat these verses like a blunt command to “just stop it”, but now sees them very differently.

Across the episode, they unpack the idea that anxiety isn’t simply fixed by gritting your teeth or pretending everything will be fine. Austin points out, “crap’s gonna hit the fan… that’s a guarantee in life,” and stresses this isn’t about false optimism. Instead, the conversation centres on learning to “have peace in those times of the storm,” trusting that God is present even when life feels unfair or frightening.

The discussion lands again and again on trust: trusting that God cares about “the smallest little details of things”, trusting that “you are more important” than birds or grass, and trusting that anxiety can become a cue to turn back to God rather than proof of failed faith.

They link this to recovery work at The Refuge, where people aren’t trying to build a perfect future, but to become the kind of person who can face hard things “with grace, self-control, and an amount of courage.” If you’re anxious about tomorrow, wrestling with faith, or trying to stay sober in a messy life, this gentle yet direct chat might help you ask a different question: what would it look like to trust God just for today?