Does Your Daughter Battle Anxiety?

If so, here are words to help...

Hi friends! I’ve been diving deep into book edits, working on a new book for girl moms coming Sept. 2025. But what will arrive even sooner is my new devotional for teen and college-aged girls launching Jan. 2025. I just got an early copy and it’s GORGEOUS. I can’t wait to share it with you!

If you haven’t pre-ordered Yours, Not Hers: 40 Devotions to Stop Comparisons and Love Your Life, reserve your copy now. This book is everything I want my daughters to know as they leave home. Below is the Day 21 message on Anxiety, one of the most common problems girls face today. I hope it helps you help your daughter (or son) move forward in healthy ways.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7 NIV

My friend’s sixteen-year-old daughter called her from school one day, panicked and stressed.

“Mom,” she said, “you’ve got to pick me up from school! Everybody is saying how hard this history test is. I know I’ll fail it. Please come get me so I don’t have to take it today!”

Immediately my friend knew that her daughter had spent time in The Mall, the common area of her high school, where students congregate between classes.

In The Mall, kids often freak out as they discuss their grades and tests. My friend had warned her daughter about “The Mall Mentality,” and this was exactly why.

She calmly replied, “I’m not going to pick you up because you’re ready for this test. Get out of The Mall and go to the library to clear your head. You’ve studied, and you know the material. I promise you’ll do fine.”

Her daughter wasn’t convinced, but she listened to her mom. She made an A on that test, and two years later, this straight-A student was named a National Merit Finalist. She won a full scholarship to the college of her choice. She graduated from high school with top honors and is now an engineering major.

Clearly, she is an intelligent girl, yet even she doubted herself when outside voices got in her head. And the truth is, we all have “Malls” in our lives that make us panic. We have Malls that make us think emotionally rather than rationally.

Many are outside voices that shake our confidence. But sometimes it’s our inner Mall, that voice inside of us, that fuels our anxiety through the stories we tell ourselves.

Whether it’s the Mall of Social Media, the Mall of College Applications, or the Mall of Getting a Date to Prom, they can all make you feel like an imminent disaster is just around the corner.