How Fear Can Help Us Grow
By Cammie Easley, LPC-MHSP, Director of Child & Adolescent Services
It is back to school time! If all of our homes had an “anxiety thermometer,” the temperature would be steadily rising. Whether you are a student preparing for a new school year where you don’t know where to find your class, or if you’re a college student one year closer to graduating and facing the career world, or a parent trying to prepare for busy schedules, school pick-ups, volunteer days and navigating the homework dance in the evenings…we all can feel the anxiety!
If you’ve been in counseling, you’ve probably heard the fact that a little bit of anxiety is actually good for you. A little anxiety keeps us on our toes, helps us perform a little better, and motivates us to try our best. However, too much anxiety can be crippling, leaving us defeated and paralyzed, and scared to move ahead.
Today, I want to talk about the gift of anxiety. For those of you who struggle with anxiety, you are probably thinking, “What in the WORLD is she talking about????” But, stick with me.
Anxiety is like an indicator light in our cars. When the oil light comes on, we all know it’s time for an oil change. When the flat tire light comes on, we know it’s time to go fill our tires with air. These indicator lights, though alarming in the moment, give us clues that reveal what we need to know about what is going on underneath the hood of our cars. We need these indicator lights!
In the same way, anxiety can reveal where we are believing a lie about God, ourselves, or others. (*** For those who are wondering where your clinical anxiety diagnosis fits in, keep reading! We will discuss this as well.) For example, because of past medical traumas, I have a terrible fear surrounding hospitals, doctors, and medical procedures. My hands get clammy, my heart starts to race, my head spins, and all I want to do is RUN. However, in a season of currently having to face some of those fears, the Lord has been gracious to reveal some lies that I have believed about Him. The anxiety has been my indicator light that there are lies lurking beneath the surface.
Truth be told, because of my experiences, I developed a belief that “God was somehow absent in the hospital room. That He was mighty to save, but a little less strong when it came to my physical health.” I believed the lie that “He wouldn’t come through for me in that space, that He was a little less good in that realm.” This last year of health challenges has made me come face-to-face with those beliefs and be honest about what I was really believing.
It hasn’t been “easy” but, as I have paid attention to the fear, and surrendered the lies that I was holding onto, God has been speaking. He didn’t make the situation magically go away. He didn’t instantaneously heal me so I wouldn’t have to face it. Rather, He walked with me right into it and He started to show me that He was there. He was good in the church building AND the hospital room. He was present in my living room AND the doctor’s office. He was powerful enough to save my soul, AND also able to meet me here-in the middle of my health struggles.
So, my question for you is: do you have a place of recurring fear or anxiety? If so, I would challenge you to ask yourself the following: What am I really afraid of? What am I really believing about myself? God? Or others? The lie could be a lingering fear that you will be a failure, or a disappointment, or weak. It could be that God, somehow, will not be there for you. It could be that others will always abandon you or reject you. After you’ve identified this lie-confess it! Tell Him the truth about what you’ve been believing in your heart of hearts. And then ask Him what He wants you to know about this?*
Asking questions like that allows us to not only avoid the anxiety or put it on mute for a while-but actually challenges the anxiety itself and causes it to lose its power. 2 Corinthians 10:5 echoes this idea when it states, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
For those of you who are reading this, who struggle with a clinical presentation of anxiety that goes beyond situational fear: What you are going through is also legitimate and there is hope for you as well. Because of the fall of mankind, we experience brokenness in every form-and that includes our bodies and brains. If you are someone who needs therapy or medication to address a physiological issue going on in your body, we applaud you for taking care of yourself! We acknowledge that mental health disorders are real and we need to address not only the spiritual and emotional issues…but also the physical and chemical elements of our make up as well. Continue asking yourself hard questions like this and also doing whatever you need to do to address the physiological issues at stake! We must be good stewards of our WHOLE selves-body, mind, spirit and soul.
If you find yourself battling with anxiety or living under the weight of fear, don’t hesitate to reach out today! There is so much freedom that awaits you! We would love to help you find greater peace and live in light of the truth of how loved you are.
*Questions taken from The Identity Exchange
Meet Cammie Easley, LPC-MHSP, Director of Child & Adolescent Services!
Cammie graduated with her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in May of 2014 from Denver Seminary in Denver, CO.
Throughout her career as a counselor, Cammie has been passionate about helping individuals of all ages overcome anxiety and depression, heal from past traumas, process their own grief, and develop into the healthy and whole people that God designed them to be.
She believes firmly that seasons of hardship are God’s tool which He uses to make us more like Himself and to reveal Himself to us in ways that we would not otherwise come to intimately know. One of her greatest joys in counseling is helping individuals figure out how they can heal in a holistic way that incorporates their body, mind, and spirit.