Turning to Prayer When Fear Seeps In

Image of Scrabble letters spelling “FEAR” Source: Canva

What do we do when fear seeps into our lives?

It can be such a tricky foe. Sometimes it’s quiet and subtle, like if you’re afraid of spiders and you see a spider as you walk into a room. It’s something that’s there, that we have to confront (or get the next nearest human to dispose of it for us.) The same with fears of snakes, moths, or other creatures. Those kinds of fears are normal and confrontable, if still a bit inconvenient. We see something we are afraid of, we come up with a solution, and we move forward (or around) them.

In our house I’m responsible for anything to do with snakes. So far it’s been an easy job, simply warning my husband when there’s a snake on TV and letting him know when it’s gone or I change the channel. (He really hates snakes.) Occasionally we’ve been on nature walks and come across a small snake or two, and I’ve successfully run interference. Personally I find them interesting, and the tiny ones almost a little cute, although I’d never want one as a pet. One day we saw one that was smaller than some earthworms I’ve seen — it was so adorable! Not so much to my husband, but still, we made it past the baby snake with no issues.

On the other hand my husband is in charge of disposing of moths and anything with more than eight legs. I have no idea why moths freak me out. Spiders don’t bother me at all, but moths … ick. When they’re sitting still they are actually fascinating to look at; their fluffy bodies paired with paper-like wings are pretty cool. But as soon as they take flight with their unpredictable flapping and weird flight paths, I’m outta there!

But what about when your fear is in your mind? (Okay, all fear comes from our mind, but work with me here.)

What if the fear is something that hasn’t happened, is quite likely won’t happen, and even if it did happen it is 100% out of our control? How do we deal with those fears?

Excellent question I was asking myself at 4:45 a.m. as a car alarm was going off somewhere in the neighbourhood the morning I wrote this blog post.

Was that our car?

What if it was, would the person still be there?

Would we have to confront them or should we just let it go? What if they try to break into the house?

What if they try to do that when my husband isn’t home?

Which room should I barricade myself in? Oh wait, these rooms have doors that open outward, those won’t work — what about these three that have inward facing doors I can brace? Could I get to those rooms? What could I use for a barricade? Could I corral the cats with me and protect them? What if I couldn’t get them inside, would they be hurt? Would I have my cell phone on me or access to the home phone to call for help?

See where that was going? Nowhere productive, and descending in an ever-increasing doom spiral. Always a nice way to start the day. Especially the first day back to work after vacation. I suppose the day could only get better from there.

Anyway, what did I do? How did I break myself of this spiral?

I prayed.

I remembered that none of this was happening, none of this was real, it was only my mind creating next to impossible scenarios that would make good fodder for a movie plot, but it was not real. There was no one there, we were safe in bed with one of the cats taking up most of the space, as usual. God is always with me, and there is no need to waste time on those thoughts.

Anxiety is a way of life with me. Although I haven’t had a lot of it lately, whenever there is a change in my routine, like either starting or finishing vacation, there’s a greater chance of triggers. This time I took the time to pray, and when my mind drifted to the next solution, “oh yeah, I can do this, or we can do that to prevent the next thing that is likely never going to happen but you never know so we should really do something just in case…” I paused, took a deep breath, brought myself back to the centre again, and focused on Jesus.

I have to remember to rest in God’s peace, that Jesus provides for me. The Holy Spirit is always with me. All is well.

Sure enough, as I pulled my weary body out of bed and started my morning routine, all was well with the world; well, our little piece of it.

And now I’m writing this blog to remind everyone, that fear is an option. It can be a friend, to protect us of things that could harm us (like poisonous snakes, spiders, or terrifying moths), but most of the time it is a foe, sent to rob us of peace.

So let’s take back our peace through prayer. That’s free, available to everyone 24/7, and never runs out.

Amen!