Discovering Your Internal Universe: The Unexpected Good News about Anxiety, Panic, and Fear

A liberating and life-giving approach to making peace with anxiety

What if anxiety is not an enemy trying to destroy you? What if anxiety is an unexpected ally trying to save you? In Discovering Your Internal Universe, author and pastor Cody Deese invites readers into this counterintuitive shift in how they understand anxiety. Challenging the common assumption that anxiety is an illness that only ever undermines us, Deese demonstrates how anxiety can be a helpful guide pointing us toward things that need our attention.

Revealing his own lifelong struggle with a panic disorder, Deese describes how his anxiety illuminated a path that he needed to explore--a path into his internal universe. The journey brought Deese face to face with unresolved grief, childhood wounds, religious trauma, and personal rejection--and ultimately led to greater self-understanding and acceptance. Through Deese's story, readers will learn how to access their own internal universe, discover the root causes of their anxiety, and find the courage to embark on their own internal quest. Unconventional, practical, and spiritually insightful, Discovering Your Internal Universe is an invitation to listen to the gentle truth behind anxiety: it is good to be human and it is good to be you.

Author: Cody Deese
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Published: 10/09/2025
Pages: 250
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9780802885401
ISBN10: 0802885403
BISAC Categories:
- Self-Help | Anxieties & Phobias
- Religion | Christian Living | Personal Growth
- Religion | Christian Ministry | Counseling & Recovery

About the Author
Cody Deese is an author, speaker, and spiritual guide. He holds an MDiv degree from Emory University's Candler School of Theology and serves as the lead pastor of Vinings Lake Church, an ever-evolving spiritual collective. He is also the founder of Atlanta Becoming, a progressive organization that hosts roundtable discussions with authors and speakers on spiritual topics.