The Breaking Point
At 16, Bria began experiencing anxiety without fully understanding what was happening to her. She couldn’t pinpoint a single cause—just a growing sense of overwhelm and dread that seemed to come from nowhere. Then one night, everything changed.
She woke up at 3 AM convinced she was dying. Her chest was tight, her heart racing uncontrollably, sweat pouring down her face. She ran to her father’s room, terrified and confused. “I thought I was having a heart attack,” she remembers. It was her first panic attack—but it wouldn’t be her last.
What started as isolated episodes quickly became a daily reality. Panic attacks began happening throughout the day, triggered by nothing and everything. Then, during her senior year playing varsity flag football, she took a hit to the head during the final play of a game. The concussion that followed didn’t just give her headaches—it unleashed something far darker.
“After the concussion, I went from being top of my class to severely non-functional,” Bria explains. For two years, she wore glasses indoors because light hurt too much. She experienced severe daily nausea and headaches. She stuttered. She couldn’t look at screens or complete homework. Her sense of purpose evaporated.
By her early twenties, Bria was barely surviving. She couldn’t shower regularly. Dishes piled up. Basic hygiene felt impossible. Anxiety, depression, and PTSD had taken everything from her—her identity, her future, her hope.
For six years, she lived as a prisoner in her own mind.
“What would it feel like to lose the person you thought you were—your capabilities, your purpose, your very sense of self—and have no idea how to find her again?”
The Victim Trap
Bria tried everything. Therapy. Medication. Prayer. Fasting. She got the diagnoses: anxiety disorder, depression, PTSD. At first, having names for what she was experiencing felt healing—validation that she wasn’t making it up.
But then something shifted. The diagnoses became excuses.
“I realized I was using the roots of my anxiety—genetics, heredity, trauma—as a scapegoat,” she admits. “I was weaponizing my diagnoses as reasons not to function or fulfill what God was calling me to do.”
She was stuck in victim mentality, blaming her past, her brain chemistry, her circumstances. And while those things were real, they had become her identity rather than just her experience.
The breakthrough came when Bria recognized a hard truth: “People may have abused me or taken advantage of me, but I am 100% responsible for how I respond and behave. I can’t control what happened to me, but I can control what I do next.”
It was a radical shift—from “Why is this happening to me?” to “What am I going to do about it?”
Enough Is Enough
After years of exhausting herself with prayer that seemed to go nowhere, Bria hit a wall. She had prayed harder, fasted longer, tried to be “good enough” for God to heal her. Nothing worked. She felt like a failure as a Christian, convinced God was mad at her or punishing her.
“I was in this vicious cycle,” she says. “Praying more, doing everything ‘right,’ seeing no results, then blaming myself for not having enough faith. I believed a lie—that somehow I wasn’t doing enough.”
Then came the turning point: “I decided something has to be truth and something has to be a lie. I’m going to decide the Bible is true, and anything that contradicts it is a lie.”
It sounds simple, but it was revolutionary. Instead of letting her feelings dictate her beliefs, she chose to let the Bible dictate her feelings.
She committed to a 30-day challenge she called the “I Am Challenge.” Every day, she would read Scripture through two lenses: Who am I? and Who is God?
The 30-Day I Am Challenge
For 30 days, Bria sat with the Bible and placed herself inside the stories. She identified with Moses, Joseph, David, Paul, Ruth, Esther—imperfect people God used anyway.
“I realized these weren’t superheroes,” she explains. “They were humans with trauma, with fear, with doubt. But God only needed their ‘yes.’”
She stopped envying their faith and started borrowing it. If Abraham could believe God for the impossible, maybe she could too. If David could face Goliath despite being the youngest and smallest, maybe she could face her anxiety.
She also reframed her understanding of “good.” Growing up, she thought “good” meant comfortable, easy, pain-free. But if God is good and sovereign, then even trials must be good—not because they feel good, but because God uses them for good.
“God being a giver of good gifts can even allow moments of suicidal ideation and depression and anxiety to work for our good and be testimony for his glory,” she says.
This wasn’t toxic positivity. It was a radical trust that God’s definition of “good” was bigger than her circumstances.
Day 7: The Mind Goes Silent
On the seventh day of the challenge, something extraordinary happened.
For the first time in six years, Bria’s mind went completely silent.
“I could hear God’s voice clearly. I was emotionally regulated. I experienced what mental peace actually feels like,” she remembers. “It was beautiful. I could remember what it felt like to not be anxious.”
It wasn’t magic. It was the result of a deliberate choice to believe God’s word over her thoughts, emotions, and circumstances.
She had discovered something critical: Faith is not a feeling. It’s a choice.
“Faith is a deliberate decision,” Bria explains. “It’s not mystical. It’s practical. You can train it like a muscle. I chose to make the Bible my trump card—always choosing God’s truth over my feelings.”
What would change in your life if you could actually live in that space?
You Are Not Your Experience
One of the most transformative realizations came from 2 Timothy 1:7: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.”
Bria had always read that verse and thought, Well, then where is the fear coming from? She had believed God was punishing her or that she wasn’t doing enough to earn his favor.
But the verse revealed something else: Fear wasn’t from God.
More importantly, it separated her identity from her experience.
“I am not anxiety,” she says. “I am experiencing anxiety. My true identity is in Christ: strong, loving, sound-minded.”
This distinction changed everything. Feelings were real—she wasn’t denying that—but they weren’t facts. They didn’t define her.
“Feelings exist and are valid to experience, but they should not dictate behavior,” she explains. “Before, if I felt depressed, I was depressed. If I felt anxious, I was anxious. Now I separate identity from experience.”
She could feel anxious without being anxious. She could experience depression without being depressed.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to separate yourself from your anxiety that way?
The Anti-Anxiety Framework
As Bria studied Scripture, she developed what she calls her “Anti-Anxiety Framework” from Philippians 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
The framework has three parts:
- Prayer with intention and authority. Not begging God, but praying with confidence in his power and promises. Knowing that he hears and responds.
- Petition—asking God for victory with expectation. Not hoping he might answer, but expecting that he will answer because he’s faithful.
- Thanksgiving. Gratitude shifts perspective. It reminds you of what God has already done and anchors you in his goodness.
“This wasn’t just theory. It became Bria’s daily practice—the spiritual tool that transformed her entire life.”
My Own Ways vs. God’s Way
Another breakthrough came when Bria learned to distinguish between operating from her own ways versus God’s way.
“My own way is reactive—impulsive thoughts, feelings, desires, temptations,” she explains. “God’s way is connected to his identity and authority, to what he knows is actually best for me.”
She realized she had a choice to operate from her ways or God’s ways.
“I have dominion,” she says. “I don’t have to let my thoughts run wild. I don’t have to let my emotions dictate my day. I can turn to God and allow him to work in me.”
This wasn’t about suppressing feelings. It was about refusing to let feelings be in charge.
Wrestling with God
But the journey wasn’t linear. Bria had to wrestle with God—really wrestle.
She was angry. She blamed him. She questioned why he allowed suffering, whether he was punishing her, if she was doing enough to be “good enough.”
“I skewed God’s image through my imperfect parents’ examples and my own expectations,” she admits. “I saw him as judgmental, distant, angry.”
She asked “Why me?” over and over. She felt abandoned.
Have you ever felt like God was distant or punishing when you were struggling the most?
But through the I Am Challenge, her view of God transformed. She stopped seeing him as a harsh judge and started seeing him as a personal trainer—someone who pushes you beyond what you thought possible, not to punish you, but because he knows what you’re capable of.
“He is the most tenacious, patient, reliable, unconditionally loving being,” she says now. “Everything God is and does is out of unselfish love. He meets you where you are, but he won’t let you stay there.”
The Transformation
After the breakthrough, Bria’s life changed dramatically. She went from barely functional to empowered and purposeful. She experienced hope, resilience, emotional regulation, and the ability to do hard things.
She felt God was leading her to start a business to help others.
“I had no business degree, no capital, no marketing knowledge,” she laughs. “But I obeyed.”
She created affirmation card decks based on the truths she discovered during her 30-day challenge. She developed a Bible anxiety journal and workbook. She launched 12-week programs to guide others through the same framework that freed her.
Today, at 22, Bria is married, building a life in Florida, and stepping into motherhood. But her greatest fulfillment comes from helping others break free from the same anxiety and depression that once held her captive.
It’s Not a Magic Pill
But Bria is quick to clarify: “This wasn’t instantaneous or permanent healing. I still experience anxiety and depression sometimes.”
The difference is, now she has tools. She knows her identity in Christ. She can ground herself, emotionally regulate, breathe through struggles, and remember God’s promises.
“Progress replaced perfection,” she says.
She’s also learned to reframe anxiety as natural—like seasons. “Winter comes and goes. Spring comes and goes. Anxiety isn’t inherently evil; it was designed to protect. When it becomes excessive, it’s a problem. But I approach anxiety moments with the same acceptance I have toward seasonal change—they will pass.”
Before, a bad moment would consume her entire day or week. Now, when anxiety arises, she asks, “When will I feel good again?” and waits in confidence rather than despair.
“I am no longer a prisoner of my own mind,” she says.
Residual Fear
Still, there’s an ongoing spiritual battle. Bria admits she sometimes fears relapse—that another severe crisis will return.
“The previous period was so hard, so exhausting, so hopeless,” she says. “I question whether I could survive it again.”
But she’s learning that God’s victory was already won. The small battles now are “boot camp” training for potential future wars.
“God has the victory, so I’m good,” she says. “When the battle comes, I’m choosing to believe He’s already won.”
You Have More Authority Than You Think
Bria’s final message to anyone stuck in anxiety, depression, or hopelessness is this:
“The same decisions and choices that got you here can get you out. You have more authority and capability than you believe.”
She’s not minimizing trauma or pain. She’s not saying “just pray harder.” She’s saying that faith is a choice, identity is separate from experience, and God is not punishing you—he’s inviting you into relationship.
What if that’s true? What if God is actually on your side?
“Give God your ‘yes,’” she urges. “Commit to understanding who he is and who he calls you to be. Take off false identities. Put on Christ’s identity. Allow God to transform you and let you experience the abundant life Jesus died to provide.”
Would she trade her experience? No.
“God knew my stubborn, independent Caribbean nature needed to be humbled to draw me closer to Him,” she reflects. “The difficulty was necessary. The result—a life aligned with God’s purpose—is worth the pain.”
Bria’s story isn’t about a magic formula. It’s about a relationship. It’s about choosing to believe God’s word over your thoughts. It’s about separating who you are from what you’re experiencing. It’s about wrestling with God until you see him clearly—not as a punisher, but as a personal trainer who loves you too much to let you stay stuck.
If you’re in the middle of your own battle with anxiety or depression, Bria’s message is clear: You are not your diagnosis. You are not your trauma. You are not your feelings.
You are who God says you are.
So what are you going to do with that?
And that changes everything.
For the whole story check out the podcast below.
