Signs of Supressed Fear

With all of the negative reports in the news, it would be natural for us to experience fear.  This causes many of us a lot of ambivalence, especially when we read scripture verses that seem to tell us we are not having enough faith if we are fearful.  As a result, we suppress our fear, which compounds our problems.

Some of the symptoms that we experience as a result of suppressed fear might include:

            Changes in sleep patterns

                        Difficulty falling asleep

                        Difficulty staying asleep

                        Waking in the middle of the night and being unable to go back to sleep

                        Waking early in the morning and being unable to go back to sleep

                        Waking after sleeping all night and feeling just as tired as if there was no sleep

            Changes in eating patterns

                        Lack of appetite

                        Digestion problems

                        Weight gain or loss

            Agitation

                        Things that used to cause very little distress now bring on frustration or angry outbursts

                        Loved ones and friends often become targets

            Need to control

                        People

                        Things

                        Situations

            Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies

                        Regressing to rituals of cleaning or managing various areas of life

                        Hypervigilance or watching

                        Increasingly limiting risks that one is willing to take (i.e. avoiding public places that previously would be visited without fear)

Scripture does not tell us to deny or suppress our fear.  Instead God desires that we avoid letting fear control us.  So I encourage each one of us to acknowledge our fear to ourselves and to safe people who will understand the need to address it.  Most importantly we don't want to let fear reign in us.  Maybe this distinction will help us understand that, "Perfect love casts out fear."    When we understand His love for us, we can put our lives in His care, and let Him reign in us instead of fear.