"FEAR"

Fear is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, whether the threat is real or imagined, it's the feeling or condition of being afraid. Fear has a clear evolutionary purpose. It is a complex biomechanical process that involves adrenaline and a number of areas of the brain. Fear is tied not only to life threatening situations involving the body, but also the mind. Any circumstance that threatens someone's sense of self can also be said to incite fear.

There are three basic types of fear in psychology: primal, irrational, and rational. Knowing the differences between these main types of fear is what makes or breaks a scary escape.

Primal Fear is defined as an innate fear that is programmed into our brains. These are fears like arachnophobia (fear of spiders) or aphidiophobia (fear of snakes). They are natural fears because of human evolution. A human that was afraid of snakes was less likely to be bitten by one than the human who wasn’t, therefore humans with a healthy fear had a higher survival rate.

Irrational fears are the ones that don’t make logical sense and can vary greatly from person to person. One half of your brain is scared, and the other half doesn’t understand why. These fears like coulrophobia (fear of clowns) and phasmophobia (fear of ghosts).

Rational fear occur where there is a real, imminent threat. If someone is brandishing a knife at you, the fear of being stabbed is a rational fear. Fear of death is rational. Losing a child in a very crowded venue is a rational fear.

Fear is our survival response. Some people who loves roller coasters and horror movies thrive on it, while other people avoid it. Fear is experienced in your mind, but it triggers a strong physical reaction in your body. According to Northwestern Medicine, "As soon as you recognize fear, your amygdala (small organ in the middle of your brain) goes to work, it alerts your nervous system, which sets your body's fear response into motion. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are released. Your blood pressure and heart rate increase. You start breathing faster. Even your blood flow changes - blood actually flows away from the heart and into your limbs, making it easier for you to start throwing punches, or run for your life. Your body is preparing for fight or flight."

Fear is mentioned in the Bible over 400 times. Regardless of the translation, there are different types of fear in the Bible: Fear of the Lord and The Spirit of Fear. When you fear the Lord, you reverence Him and show Him that you love Him. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." The bible tells us, "For God has not given us a sprit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). The Spirit of Fear is a weapon of Satan that is intended to sabotage us.

We as human beings experience fear on a countless number of times during our lifetime. There are so many stories of fear in the bible. Many of the great biblical characters had to deal with fear in their life's journey. In the Book of Genesis when God made Adam and Eve, they lived in perfect paradise and they were without fear. God Himself went and fellowship with them daily, in the garden of Eden. But once that devilish serpent convinced them to eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were cut off from the goodness of God and they fell into a sinful nature. This was the beginning of the fall of mankind and at this point the spirit of fear entered into us humans.

According to my friend Lynn's boyfriend, Ahmad, F.E.A.R. is False Expectations Appearing Real. And yet we all have feared something in our lives. False Expectations Appearing Real is an acronym suggesting that we perceive threats or dangers as real or imminent, even in the absence of concrete evidence or when the evidence is distorted. There is no true threat of immediate physical danger, no threat of a loss of someone or something dear to us, actually nothing there at all. F.E.A.R. is an illusion.

Yes, I have been there. When I look through the mirror of my memories, there was a time in my life when I was trying to analyze what was going on with my late husband's health. His cancer had spread from his prostate to his bladder, then to his bones. No one was telling me anything. He even asked the doctors how long did he have to live? He left the hospital and went straight into hospice. I was quite alarm and disabled with enough fear that consumed me. I knew that he was in early signs of a horrifying fate. Fear had not only arrived at my front door, but it had broken down my door and had me held as hostage.

I was in a total state of panic and truly heartbroken, but I couldn’t allow him to see me this way. But that shock of what I surmised, that this person whom I love beyond anything and everything, other than Jesus, really was going to die. I was living a narrative of fear and despair, and yet when I was around him, I must put on my perfect smiling face. Whenever I had those moments of being afraid, my sweet Jesus kept me at perfect peace. Jesus saw be through his death and kept me sane after his death. I have learned to keep my mind on Jesus through it all, through the good times as well as the bad and sad times. Whatever you are going through, whatever the enemy bring to you, Jesus can truly help see you through it.