Article September 21, 2015 Issue

No place for fear

Martha Sarvis

Fear seems so prevalent these days. There appear to be many avenues for it to weasel its way into our thinking. And sometimes a specific fear has been with us for so long that it seems to be a part of our identity. It would argue that we must just live with it, adjust our lives to accommodate it. But this is completely contrary to God’s law of love, which casts out fear.

The summer before I graduated from college I was taking two courses and living in a house with three other people. It was the end of the semester and the others had all finished their courses, so I was alone in the house. Sometime during the night I awoke to a man standing over my bed with his hand on my shoulder. I sat up in bed, and all I could keep repeating was, “Why are you doing this?” He touched me no further, left the house, and I called the police.

Although I was grateful for the protection and was able to successfully complete the last exam I had the next day, the fear remained with me whenever I was alone at night. At these times, I would wake up and feel that someone was in the house. It was several years before I started to give concerted prayer to the problem.

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