Overcoming Fear, Worry, and Anxiety

Elyse Fitzpatrick

Description

Elyse Fitzpatrick, coauthor of Women Helping Women (a Gold Medallion Finalist), offers practical advice for conquering the paralyzing emotions many women encounter as they battle difficult, often overwhelming concerns about rebellious children, problems in the workplace or home, health issues, financial difficulties, and more.In the Bible, God gives guidance and offers the true solution to our anxieties and fears. Overcoming Fear, Worry, and Anxiety accesses this information to help women--Identify the source of fear, worry, and anxietyTransform fearful thoughts into peaceful confidenceDiscover specific strategies for overcoming anxietyWomen will find comfort and encouragement through real-life examples of how others, including Elyse, cast their cares upon God and experience His strength and love.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736931632
• Langue: English

Extrait

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
Eugene, OR 97402
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Verses marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society.
Verses marked NKJ V are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible , Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Cover by Koechel Peterson Associates, Minneapolis, Minnesota
OVERCOMING FEAR, WORRY, AND ANXIETY
Copyright 2001 by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fitzpatrick, Elyse, 1950-
Overcoming fear, worry, and anxiety / Elyse Fitzpatrick.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7369-0589-8
1. Christian women-Religious life. 2. Fear-Religious aspects-Christianity.
I. Title.
BV4527.F59 2001

248 43-dc21
2001024088
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
02 03 04 05 06 07 / BC-MS / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Genuinely Mad Hatter: Paralyzed by Fear
Understanding Your Fears
1. Understanding How Fear Works
2. Bible Heroes Who Struggled with Fear
3. Replacing Your Fear with God s Power
The Source of Your Fears
4. When You Feel You re Losing Control
5. Fearing the People Around Us
6. The Fear Caused by Perfectionism
7. God Really Does Care for You
God s Answers to Your Fears
8. The Security of God s Sovereignty
9. The Fear That Results in Blessings
10. The Opposite of Fear: Love
11. Growing Strong in Grace
12. God s Strength Displayed in Your Weakness
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Notes
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Every sentence in this book is a mere reflection of God s mercy to me in surrounding me with godly people who know the truth and how it applies to life. Among these people are Jay E. Adams, George Scipione of The Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship, the staff of The National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, The Biblical Counseling Foundation, and The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Wherever this book is correct, it is simply a fusion of what I ve learned from them.
God also sent comfort to me in the form of friends who have consistently prayed for and encouraged me. Foremost among these friends are Anita Manata, Donna Turner, Julie Pascoe, Hannah and Barbara Duguid, Jason and Kristin Barrie, Betsy Smith, Bonnie Graham, and Eileen Scipione from IBCD, and the dear people at North City Presbyterian Church. As always, the staff of Evangelical Bible Book Store, particularly John Hickernell, has been of invaluable assistance. My editor, Steve Miller from Harvest House, is a valued friend and has been a constant source of encouragement.
The ones who have sacrificed most have been my family and particularly my patient and loving husband, Phil. Thank you, dear. James, Cody and Jessica, Joel and Ruth, and Wesley and Hayden have waited patiently while I spent hours locked in my office. Dear ones: If anyone is helped through this book, you can know that you had a part in it. And, of course, thanks again, Mom, for all your inspiration and helpful editing.
James, Joel, Cody, Wesley, and Hayden
May my sons and their sons be filled with the fear of the Lord
and stand strong in the truth that will enable them
to acquit themselves like men.
A Genuinely Mad Hatter: Paralyzed by Fear

T he auditorium was filled with the proud parents of the most promising advanced drama students in the county. Backstage, members of each cast were hastily reviewing their lines, getting ready for their turn to compete.
You re on next, said our teacher, Mrs. Archer. Just remember what we ve worked on and break a leg. We all smiled at each other, knowing that the phrase break a leg was thespian-speak for good luck. We didn t think we needed luck; we had gone over our lines so many times that they seemed second nature to us. We felt confident-and why shouldn t we? After all we were the best. As the five of us, actors and actresses who were dramatizing Alice s famous tea party, walked on stage, the crowd fell silent and the lights went up.
I just love a tea party, Alice said to me, the Mad Hatter. As she sat there looking at me, waiting for me to respond with my lines, something utterly shocking happened. I suddenly felt like I was watching the whole scene as a bystander- everything became fuzzy and it seemed as though I was losing touch with reality. In the back of my mind, I knew I should be doing something. Wasn t there something I should say? As seconds that felt like hours ticked by, I became more and more disoriented. My hands were sweating and my heart was pounding. I felt like I was going to faint. Somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely heard our teacher frantically whispering my lines to me from offstage. Was I supposed to say those lines? I couldn t even remember how to speak. Nothing that was happening around me made any sense.
I just love a tea party, Alice said again, this time glaring at me. I wanted to respond, to make her happy, but deep inside my heart I couldn t figure out what she wanted. I didn t know who I was or what I was doing out there with all those lights on me. The audience began to murmur. My fellow actors and actresses stared unbelievingly at me. I just sat there, at the end of the table, in a daze. Who was I what was happening to me? All I could think of was how to escape. So I just stood up and wandered offstage. The rest of the cast, humiliated and angry, soon followed.
You know, I can vividly recall that scene even though it occurred more than 30 years ago. It s frozen in my mind along with all the other grand humiliations of my life. I d like to tell you that I went backstage, snapped out of it, and went on with our presentation, but that wouldn t be the truth. No, in fact, that was the end of my big chance at stardom, as well as some friendships in my drama class. That day I felt more like a Mad Hatter than I had ever wanted to.
Fear is incredibly powerful, isn t it? It can wipe out your memory and cause your heart to pound. In fact, it can paralyze you. It can cause a trained soldier to melt into a sobbing child just like the terrified infantryman in the movie Saving Private Ryan . He knew that he should get up and save his buddy but he felt completely unable to move.
As we spend time together looking at our fears and anxieties, I m going to share more of these moments with you- both from my own life and the lives of others. From the grand humiliations to the nagging little anxieties that dance like specters around the edges of our thoughts, I want you to know that you re not alone. I know what it is to lay awake at night with that feeling of foreboding, thinking, Things are too good, this can t last, or Things are so awful, this will never change! I know what it is to worry, to feel the muscles tightening in my neck, and to feel my stomach churning. I ve spent days wrestling with the thought that everything is on the verge of collapse. I ve let my mind run down every little rabbit trail-imagining that the children are dead or my husband has lost his love for me or that I have some dread disease or and on and on it goes.
In response to these fear-filled thoughts, I ve said and done some very foolish things. Some of them, in hindsight, are actually quite humorous, while others have left a trail of sad consequences. I m purposely going to share many of these personal incidents with you so that you ll come to see that we re all alike in our emotional responses. I ll also share some stories of women I ve counseled-women just like you and me. I m going to do this because I want you to know that you re not alone.
In fact, that s exactly what the Bible teaches: No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man (1 Corinthians 10:13). The fears you and I face really aren t all that unique; this verse teaches that we re all pretty much in the same boat. Although the focus and intensity of our fears may be different, every person who has ever lived has had to struggle against them. Perhaps from your perspective it doesn t seem that way, but even those who appear to be the most brave among us have had to overcome fear.
The One Who Conquered Fear
This isn t only a book about our common struggles and failures. Even though it s helpful for us to know that we re not alone, I realize the awareness of that fact won t help us to overcome the problem. The passengers on the Titanic might have been glad to have someone s hand to hold, but in the end that didn t stop the ship from sinking beneath that frigid water. No, just like them, we need someone strong enough to rescue us from the blackness of night and the terrifying cold that threatens to benumb our souls. We need someone who is stronger than our fears.
Jesus Christ is that someone. He s the only one who intimately knows all our thoughts and fears. He s the only one who is able to deliver us. That s because He s faced the greatest of all fears for us-the fear of death and separation from God- and He s come through victorious. The Bible t