There are several ways to look at the cause of these agitations of the heart. 1.) They may be the attacks of the devil indeed, for he never stops attacking. You may win the battle, but the war is far from over. The devil catches you off guard and presents some fury of emotion to cause your to worry, to feel peace drain from your heart. It is first best to step out of the situation and simply say "Of course this happens. The devil waits for me to drop my guard and he attacks." By saying this, you label the outside influence as what it is - outside of you. It need not come in. Just as a view may briefly come in through your window, you can close the curtain, distract your mind to something else (prayer, images of God, of Jesus Christ, or of the Mother of Christ crying at His feet as she gazes on her son's torture on the cross). In fact my beloved, the very tactic the Devil uses on you (emotional distraction during prayer) you can use as well. Shut out the source, then redirect your mind and heart to the heavens.

2.) Another way to look at these sudden agitations of the heart, may be divine in nature. Not that God's will is ever to withdraw peace from you, but instead use these agitations of the heart to strengthen your faith in His peace. In a meaning, God may step back just a bit and allow the world to attack you - never to far out of reach, but just enough to cause you to feel the absence and yearn for His return. You see, God is above all, so it stands to reason that the Devil can do nothing without God's approval. This is clearly shown in the Book of Job. Satan could do nothing without approval of God. So in this case, the remedy we spoke above becomes even more important - for it shows and strengthens our resolve to remain with God. That in the midst of these worrisome attacks and agitations of the heart, we seek comfort in the Great Comforter."When some affliction tries to disturb your heart, with all your strength make firm your faith in the goodness of God's Providence towards you and revive your soul as a devoted submission to God's will - that the affliction you suffer at this moment is either a means by which the Lord puts you to test or purifies your further."

Let us examine something for a moment. We want to be Christian, fully. In other words, we want to be one with Christ so that we may have eternal life. But there is so much of this world, of the dust and dirt of this existence that is mingled with our being. Regardless if you are reading this at a young or an old age, there is much in each of us that needs to be purified. If you stopped sinning right at this moment, and sinned no more, there would still be a need to be purified from all the previous sins before this time. So when God tests us, He purifies us at the same time. Think of it this way, when you get a cavity in your tooth, the first step is to clean it, then fill it with something that will not corrode. That is what God does with us, He helps us to remove the bad, decaying lifestyles, and replace them with better, stronger non-corroding activities. He wants you to not only win each battle, but win the war. And by testing the soldier does the wrrior become strong in the fight. God-willing, God-willing.