What Are We Afraid Of?

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In accordance with ABC Information (Australia), these are the highest 10

fears:

Social Phobias- Nervousness issues
Agoraphobia- worry of open areas
Acrophobia- worry of heights
Pteromerhanophobia- worry of flying
Claustrophobia- worry of shut areas
Entomophobia- worry of bugs
Ophidiophobia- worry of snakes
Cynophobia- worry of canine
Astraphobia- worry of storms
Trypanophobia- worry of needles

Do any of those fears resonate with you? Consider it or not, my #1 worry will not be on this record.

What Am I Afraid Of?

One worry persists, although I’ve been afraid of every kind of issues all through my life.

In case you’ve adopted me right here, or on social media, for a when you’ve most likely learn my bio. In it I joke about “nonetheless being afraid of the film Jaws.” Effectively, its not utterly a joke. Water, any water, causes me nice worry. Nonetheless, I believe I’ve a few legitimate causes.

In case you learn my Might 7, 2020, weblog I talked about swimming classes…nicely, really, worry classes! That have left me very cautious of the water. I don’t like going below water, I don’t like being splashed, and I don’t like being dunked! Our outdated home, in Texas, had an in-ground pool and nightfall was my favourite time to drift on prime of the water and watch the Mexican Freetail Bats flying overhead. Principally, I simply need to be left alone after I’m within the water.

Perceived Concern-

My mother inspired us to look at horror movies, after we have been little, in order that we might be capable of distinguish between actuality and fiction. So, the film Jaws, when it was launched in theaters in 1975 was on the watch record (I used to be 6 years outdated). It was seared into my thoughts and I’ve been afraid of sharks ever since. A lot so, that after I took my children, ages 9 & 8, to Common Studios (round 2011) and we rode the Jaws experience, when it got here up proper beside me with it’s gaping jaws vast open

I used to be able to sacrifice my youngest little one to the monster from the deep! For actual! He’ll even verify this!

It didn’t matter that I knew, intellectually, it was a mechanical shark. The worry was there! My coronary heart was in my throat and the flight intuition was overwhelming. So, that worry has compounded my worry of water. (I hope I’m not the one one out right here with this unrealistic worry!)

Actual Concern-

One more reason for my aquaphobia is that I’ve really been damage by the ocean. We have been visiting my aunt, who lives on the Outer Banks, in North Carolina. We have been boogie boarding and I bought caught in an undertow. An undertow is the under-current that’s transferring offshore when waves are approaching the shore. It’s a pure a part of any massive physique of water. Initially I used to be effective, however then…

I used to be on the boogie board, driving the wave towards shore. Earlier than I reached the shore, the undertow seized me and took me below the subsequent wave. This occurred a few instances earlier than the ocean slammed me onto the shore knocking me unconscious.

I awakened in an ambulance receiving first assist. I had a headache and sand popping out of my ears for days. This was not enjoyable.

Dealing with My Concern-

In March 2020, my hubs and I moved to Guam. I now reside on a tiny (212 mi²) island in the course of the Pacific. Islands are surrounded by water and there are over 40 seashores on our new dwelling. In my Instagram (IG) Tales, I shared a put up about going to the seaside and trying to beat my worry of water. I used to be capable of go in, ankle deep, and hang around whereas my hubs went out a lot additional to benefit from the water.

I’ve heard it mentioned that “Concern not” seems within the scriptures 365 instances; as soon as for every single day of the yr. Although I’m a believer worry nonetheless grips my coronary heart after I consider going into the water. How do I reconcile this worry with the command to not worry. I do not forget that God needs what’s greatest for me:

We all know that in all issues God works for the great of those that love Him, who’ve been referred to as in response to His goal. Rom 8:28

I do not forget that worry is a device of the enemy:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the satan prowls round like a roaring lion, in search of somebody to devour. 1 Pet 5:8

Bear in mind, the enemy is a roaring lion…he WANTS us to be afraid.

It’s additionally necessary to recollect the fundamentals of language; so far as nouns go:

religion is a sense, conviction, or perception that one thing is true or actual, not contingent upon motive or justification
worry is (lb) a robust, uncontrollable, disagreeable emotion attributable to precise or perceived hazard or risk

So, What ARE We afraid of?

All of us worry one thing. I’m not afraid of many issues, however this one large worry has been life-long and has the potential to be a debilitating limiting perception. Is that this worry, aquaphobia, primarily based in actual or perceived hazard? In my case, I’d say each. Nonetheless, I can select to let that worry paralyze me and maintain me from having fun with this superb tropical paradise, or I can stare that worry down and inform it:

Water, I cannot worry you. My God has already saved me and He calls me by title, beckoning me to have a look at him within the midst of my worry. I’ve been rightly positioned precisely the place He needs me to be and with that data I cannot undergo my worry. Isaiah 43:1 (my Energetic Meditation paraphrase)