Everyone tells me to give it to God. I want to, I honestly do, but I have no idea what that actually looks like in practice. What am I supposed to do?

“Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”

David wrote this in a season of political threat, surrounded by people he could not trust. The instruction he gives is concrete rather than mystical: trust at all times, pour out your heart before him. Pouring out is the language of emptying a container completely. It describes something you do with words, in a specific moment, not a state of mind you are meant to achieve by trying harder to feel calm.

“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Paul is writing to a young church under persecution, and he gives them three short habits: rejoice, pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything. These are among the most practical instructions in his letters, and they are deliberately small and repeatable. Nothing here requires a spiritual breakthrough. It is a rhythm you can begin on an ordinary Tuesday while still feeling exactly as anxious as you did on Monday.