Overcoming Fear’s Grip

Fear runs rampant in all our lives, whether we like it or not. It’s Satan’s best strategy in distracting us from focusing on God’s plan for our lives.

Fear makes his rounds. He grips us with irrational phobias so that we focus on them and not on God. He is so good at his job that he convinces us we have no control. We experience anxiety, panic, rapid heartbeat, and shortness of breath. We choose to avoid this terrifying threat at all costs to the point we stop living.

My mother-in-law has a fear of snakes. Camping excursions could be detrimental if we failed to protect her from the slithering passersby. Fear often throws a snake in her path just to get a reaction.

My son, at age 8, shared his grandmother’s fear of snakes. It would keep him up at night with nightmares so vivid we’d have to search the room to be sure there were no snakes. When I sat with him to offer comfort, his small body trembled in my arms. Fear hovered so close I could feel his breath on my skin.

My three-year-old daughter experienced night terrors. My husband and I would hear her scream and take the stairs two at a time to find her drenched in sweat and rosy-cheeked. My husband would lift her into the air struggling to hold her flailing 20-pound frame. Her eyes were open, but she looked right through us as if we were invisible. Until she woke, she kicked and swung fist after fist at her dad while yelling, “I want my daddy!”  It was terrifying and exhausting for the whole family.

Overcoming Fear’s grip can be crippling. If Fear is near you can bet Anxiety’s not far behind. Like best friends, they are inseparable.

Anxiety has visited me a time or two.  I often experience a plethora of symptoms and find myself in the depths of despair before I ever look up. I have suffered uneven pupil dilation, rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, weight gain, and inflammation. I’ve been to doctor after doctor trying to get a diagnosis and possible cure, only to discover Anxiety was the root cause.

Our body’s response to Fear is very real. The symptoms we experience are genuine. Please hear me. I’m not trying to make light of something you may be going through. I’m just saying nothing Is impossible with God. The power of prayer is underrated.

My mother-in-law still cringes at the mention of snakes, but today, she knows that Satan’s plan is to distract her from God’s calling. With a bit of prayer and perseverance, she can keep moving forward and not be discouraged by his slithering distraction.

My son is no longer afraid of snakes. After many nights of prayer and encouragement, our family visited a state park in South Dakota where he held a giant albino python around his neck. Not today, Satan!

My daughter no longer experiences night terrors. After three months of nightly outbursts from the bedroom upstairs on the right, sprinting to her side, and praying for a miracle, exhausted parents and big brother finally got to sleep through the night when the night terrors disappeared.

I don’t know why I still open the door when Anxiety knocks, but I shorten his visits when I fix my eyes on Jesus and whisper a prayer for His strength and protection.