I have learned that panic attacks are really powerful bluffs. They can actually trick your mind into thinking there is a serious, physical problem. Your body responds with a rapid heartbeat, increased blood pressure, tingling hands and a churning stomach.
All of these physical responses are real. The adrenaline released in your body is real. Everything about a panic attack is real except one thing–the source. Let me give you an example.
Imagine walking through a thick wilderness. As you approach a small river, you notice a large black bear feeding. At this point the bear hasn’t noticed you, but your body begins to react. Your heart starts beating faster. Your blood pressure elevates. Your hands and legs begin to tingle as blood is being pumped to your legs for running and to your arms for fighting. Your stomach churns because your body is starting to digest food faster for extra energy. Adrenaline is being pumped into your body. During all this, your mind is focused on that bear, rather than on your body. If the bear sees you, then you are ready to react.
Someone having a panic attack will experience the same symptoms. Irrational fears arise because the person having the attack is “looking for the bear.” Since no external danger can be found, the panic sufferer begins to listen to what their body is telling them. “My heart is racing. Maybe it’s a heart attack.” “My body is going numb. I must be dying.”
In a panic attack, your body and mind responds to an unseen fear. If that’s the case, then why can’t we respond by faith to an unseen God? It seems like we have more “faith” in those unseen terrors that seek to destroy us than in our unseen Father who longs to save us.
Faith is the key to trusting God.
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
He may reward you with a new peace, a new courage, a new faith. Maybe it’s a new hobby, a new accomplishment or a new day. Maybe he will reward you with a new job, a new joy or a new look on life. Maybe he will guide you to a new doctor with a new medication and a new task for overcoming these fears. God’s blessings can be unlimited.
Call upon God today, and seek him. When you earnestly seek him, he will reward you. Talk to him in the mornings. Talk to him in the evenings. Call upon him by faith, and he will answer you.
Prayer: Father, I know that panic attacks are just a bluff, and yet they feel so real. Help me to respond to unseen faith rather than unseen fear, for I know that my faith pleases you.
