Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles...also known as the fight-or-flight response.That's just the short list of bodily reaction.
She continues:
The sudden flood [from real or imagined fear] of epinephrine, norepinephrine and dozens of other hormones causes changes in the body that include...blood pressure increase...nonessential systems (like...immune system) shut down to allow more energy for emergency functions...trouble focusing on small tasks (brain is directed to focus only on big picture in order to determine where threat is coming from).Another website states that our response is exactly the same whether a threat is real or imagined.
Goodness, what a workout I gave my body the day we walked the trail (see July 8th post). Every imagined horror carried my body to a fear state.
Ridiculous on my part.
We wear ourselves out early with fear. How many times a day do we shut down our immune system by embracing an unnecessary fear/worry/anxiety?
I can even make a fear our of fearing what I'm doing to my body by...fearing.
A twisted mess.
The enemy of God must work incessantly to provoke fear in us. We take the bait and run with it. It makes us feel like we are doing something about it, the fear or worry or anxiety of the moment.
The problem is that it grieves God. He offers to carry our fear and worry and anxiety in 1 Peter 5:7:
God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.When we fight-or-flight alone, we exclude God and his enormous capacity to work things out for us and through us.
Layton examines research that teaches the body to unlearn fear. My fear of heights is approachable through small steps that reteach my brain that it doesn't have to fear. Two-year-old Anna, somehow conditioned to hugely fear dogs, is taking small steps at our house to see that our dog is gentle and not to be feared. The same amazing brain that prepares us in a moment of danger can be reformatted to cast unnecessary fear onto God.
Prayer can distill our fear seeds, keeping only those necessary to survival.
Tomorrow: The extraordinary fear of evolutionists.
Comments are welcome at feedyourstrength@gmail.com.
