Fighting Phobias

Are you afraid of anything? Have any phobias? Some of the worlds most common phobias are arachnophobia - fear of spiders, claustrophobia - fear of spaces and acrophobia - fear of heights. I personally have many but the one I am focusing on today is iatrophobia and today I am going to be fighting it with Gods truth.

I have iatrophobia - fear of going to the doctors. Now I know I have nothing to fear from the doctor, they will help me and God is with me and yet I am still scared. This the thing about phobias, as irrational and silly as they seem they feel so important and are so present in your mind that they can really debilitate you. As I write this I am currently trying to take my mind off the fact that I have an important doctors appointment tomorrow, distraction is a good way to handle a phobia but it isn't a permanent solution; so today I am going to be trying to convince myself that I have nothing to fear. How am I going to do that? The way I prove anything to myself, truth and facts. I have mentioned previously that I am autistic, knowing facts is one of the best ways for me to cope with the world they make more sense to me than most emotional answers do. The other way that I cope with the world is to look for Gods truth, I retreat to a quiet place away from anything that could distract or stress me then I pray to the Lord to help me then read the Bible for hours; sometimes I just read the same few verses over and over memorising them for any situation that I need them in. So that is what I am going to be doing today, seeking His truth, finding facts and then memorising them.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 NIV

The first fact I thought of when looking at this verse was that the Doctor isn't going to hurt me. My doctor wouldn't be a doctor if they didn't want to help people. My fear comes from my brain that has over the years been influenced by the world, the peace I hope to have is found in God and God alone. I need to trust that God is with the doctor helping them to diagnose me, helping them to understand my fear and I need to trust that He is with me. By trusting in Him I can feel at peace knowing that He is in control.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 ESV

While reading Romans this morning I was drawn to this verse and kept returning to it. While I read it all I could think about was my appointment. Reading it over and over again made me realise the fact that I can not change the outcome of the appointment by worrying about it. This follows on from my last verse and fact in that the Lord is in control; He knows what is going on with my body, He knows the outcome of my appointment already, therefore worrying about it isn't going to change Gods plan for me and my life. Whatever the outcome is I am still going to be a child of God, I am still going to be surrendering my life to Jesus and He will still be with me.

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD God is the eternal Rock. Isaiah 26:3-4 NLT

After finding and accepting the previous two facts this one just fell into my lap, I am going to get through this appointment, any followup appointments and any tests.

If I keep getting worked up over the appointment and the outcome of it instead of praying and looking to Jesus I will never find peace. I will continue to feel on edge, stressed out and scared; but if I fix my eyes on the Lord, pray to Him and read His Word I will find my peace.

I am going to be memorising these verses, writing down and repeating the facts and praying to the Lord for Him to work in my heart and mind to reduce and eventually lose my phobias. While God most definitely has the power to remove my fears immediately I don't think that this is going to work overnight if he just took them from me I wouldn't grow and learn from them; so I may still be afraid of the doctor at my appointment tomorrow, I may still be scared next week or next month but I know that in time by looking to and trusting in Jesus and His control I will find my peace. It is my prayer that you can also find peace in the Lord and that you will surrender your fears and phobias to Him, they may not go immediately but by leaving it to God they will go eventually.

So that is how I am going to be keeping myself calm tomorrow as I go to my appointment and hopefully get my diagnosis. I am aware that this is a bit of a random post and I am sorry about that but in writing this God has shown and comforted me so much and it is my prayer that this random post helps someone else, even if it's not with iatrophobia.

Do you have iatrophobia? If not do you have any other phobias? What helps you combat it? Do you have a favourite Bible verse that helps you when you are afraid? I would love to know what you do and how you fight your fears.