I will never forget as a 10-year-old boy the day I found a steeply descending hill while out looking for adventure on my push-bike. It was an opportunity for a thrill I couldn’t miss! Impulsively, I launched the bike down the slope and within fifty meters had gathered enough speed to race toward the bottom of the hill still somewhat hidden in shadow. What more could I ask for—I raced towards the bottom my fingers tightly gripping the handlebars, the wind stinging my face and a heart beating faster and faster. About halfway down the hill was when I realized what had escaped my attention in those shadows, the road took an unexpected turn, much sharper than I could safely navigate at speed. If I did not apply the brakes immediately I was headed for disaster. The problem was, the time to do this safely had passed. Besides, I never intended to use the brakes, they only spoiled an adventure!
This was when terror dug its icy claws into my heart and there formed in my imagination an awful scene of my fast-approaching future. In my mind’s eye, I saw a twisted bike spread over the road along with parts of my anatomy and copious amounts of blood. The imagined scene had to do with what I stumbled upon as a young child, a gruesome motorbike accident that had only just happened. (It still had blood spread all over the road, and it haunted me for years.) The end of my adventure was not going to be pretty and undoubtedly painful.
Fortunately, the conclusion was not the disaster imagined. Despite the panic and a mind frozen with ‘fear’, I managed by sheer willpower and physical force to make the bike lean in the direction of the bend in the road. Little by little, it veered where it needed to go, so when I did strike the raised curb with a jarring jolt it was more of a glancing blow. After wobbling for a few seconds, I toppled off the bike and sprawled on the road with only moderate force. The outcome was more a loss of face than skin or blood. In a few weeks, the gravel grazes and cuts to my arms and legs healed, even if my pride hadn’t.
Perhaps terror has not seized you like this, but for me, it was a traumatic experience, one I will never forget (although it no longer causes emotional distress). But if traumatized from ‘fear’, then you know it to be a powerful and debilitating emotion, one able to torment the mind, distress the emotions, and exhaust the body. Possibly, nothing affects us as much as ‘fear’ does. True, it has the redeeming feature of galvanizing into action when faced with danger, but the harmful effects far outweigh any benefit it provides. It is more a hostile enemy than any welcome friend.
While the sheer panic of the episode described was new to me, ‘fear’ was not. From early infancy, it had been my companion, a buffeting adversary never leaving me alone for long. Only at seventeen years of age when I was converted (‘born again’) did I find the relief I craved, and then only after discovering the solutions shared in this book. Praise God, from a life plagued with worry, nervousness, and anxiety, it changed (over time) to one of peace and joy. Yes, not all change was immediate, but the ‘fear’ continued to recede as I diligently applied the truths I was shown.
Why did ‘fear’ impact me so much in those formative years? Several factors contributed but the first was the circumstances of my birth. Along with a twin brother, I was born during the Second World War to a sensitive ‘nervy’ mother struggling already to cope with three other children, an unhelpful husband, and the stress of the world conflict. And because we were premature babies, our birth proved too much and she suffered a nervous breakdown. Both of us had to be taken away and cared for by a professional baby nurse; this tearing from my ‘mooring’ in the early months of life left a deep impact. The one person was not there who could give me (a highly strung and sensitive child) the security and love I needed. It didn’t take long before ‘fear’ began to wrap its tentacles around my tender heart to make me the anxious child I became.
We were returned to our mother’s care some months later but the damage was done. The fertile soil from the trauma of separation soon had feelings of inferiority, insecurity, and lack of identity take root within my heart. When the sibling rivalry for my mother’s affection was added, those roots sprouted to make me a nervous, timid child. First evidenced by my wetting the bed at night until late in infancy and later when I began to chew my fingernails and suffer from painful shyness forcing me to run and hide if strangers visited the house. But the real angst came in my pre-teens when the anxiety broke out in a psychosomatic disorder. I would arrive home most days from school doubled over in excruciating pain; severe stomach cramps that inexplicably stopped after being examined by a doctor and specialist (both found no organic cause for the pain).
However, any relief was short-lived. Soon after this, I was stricken with a speech impediment, an embarrassing stutter which plagued for six or more years. As an extremely sensitive teenager, this only magnified my fear, especially when day after day it meant humiliation at high school. To say my name at class roll time was almost impossible, and to give any kind of public speech was out of the question. Now, this might sound silly, but even more traumatic was if I needed to use a telephone. A disability, as I saw it, that could only mean a bleak future, one of ostracism and with little prospect of succeeding in a career and marriage.
Thankfully, my life radically changed soon after my first year of pharmacy studies (but with genuine concern if I could function in such a role) when I became a Christian and found the salvation offered in Jesus Christ. What I will be eternally grateful for; not only heaven’s forgiveness but also for the freedom from the ‘fear’ and stuttering that had caused so much grief and emotional pain.
The first sign of my freedom from ‘fear’ was when the nervous habit of nail-biting stopped (virtually overnight)—so quickly, it impressed my mother. Other victories followed at a slower pace, with complete freedom from all stuttering only achieved over several years. But to my delight, Jesus Christ and the Bible—the written Word of God—had the answers I needed. I didn’t have to attend expensive sessions with a speech therapist or some other ‘professional’ offering a possibly dubious cure. In fact, I completed my professional studies and for fifteen years practiced as a retail pharmacist before entering full-time Christian ministry to serve churches and Bible Colleges in two nations.
Now, I admit, this victory over ‘fear’ required real effort and much patience on my part. At times, the fight was fierce and ‘bloody’ and demanded the consistent application of the strategies, especially if I had to battle past setbacks and disappointments. In my lowest moments, I even wondered if it was worth it all. But once free from all stuttering and not having to avoid social interaction, an insignificant cost compared to what I had endured for so many years. Now, anxiety can still rear its ugly head these many years later if I am tired or stressed, but once again victory is mine when I make the effort to use the strategies. So, I recognize no one can altogether avoid feeling afraid; none of us escape the emotion if faced with a terrorist attack or other traumatic situation beyond our control. I also acknowledge having concerns about fulfilling responsibilities provides us with a healthy motivation, but no one should have to suffer ‘fear’ at a level where they become stressed, sick, and dysfunctional.
Now, before going further, I need to be upfront about the approach I share on how to beat fear. It is unashamedly based on the Bible. Hence, you will not find any ‘new age’ techniques or those from modern psychology—even if some may be helpful. This approach, therefore, may be too narrow and restrictive for some, but in my defense, it was always my intention to share the insights I was given, not what others advocate. Yes, some secular answers can be helpful, but I stayed clear of them because of the unexpected ‘side effects’ they can have, much like those with medicinal remedies (they can be worse than the condition)! However, I am not against consulting professional help or taking prescribed medication where necessary to cope with severe fear (temporarily hopefully).
What I offer is a suite of strategies based on this single text of Scripture, ‘for God has NOT given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind’ (2Tim 1.7). It was the battle plan Paul gave to Timothy his fearful ‘son in the faith’, and importantly, the source of the one truth I needed to win the battle. The crucial fact that ‘fear’ almost always has a spiritual component to it. But the verse also gave me the divine antidotes of power, love, and a sound mind I needed to win the war. Each of these ‘medicines’ the heavenly ‘Physician’ has prescribed will be looked at in-depth along with the strategies to apply them. Persist with these and what worked for me will do the same for you.
Now, I realize the level of fear some suffer may be more extreme than the examples I give. But their success is also assured by following the plan, only it will take longer and may call for extra help, including Christian counseling.