Article December 19, 1994 Issue

Healing fear of loss

Sylvia Messner

For over a year, I had enjoyed the peace and solitude of my little isolated cabin-home. Then, in the middle of the night, I was wakened by the dogs' barking and saw a prowler in the driveway about fifteen feet from my bedroom window. Overcome with panic, I crouched on the floor in the dark and dialed 911 as the prowler knocked on the front door. It turned out the "prowler" was a disoriented, frightened, and disorderly woman whom the police took into custody.

I knew that an agitated, fearful—and fearsome—individual was not a true description of any child of God, for the Bible tells us man is the image of God, pure and perfect. Nevertheless, I still felt some fear that this woman might return, or that someone else might threaten me; and I continued to feel nervous and uncomfortable at night and also on walks with my dogs. I felt trapped and unprotected. I had to reclaim the safety and dominion I had known prior to this incident.

One evening about two weeks later, I was walking the dogs and found myself asking, "Just what are you afraid of?" I quickly heard the answer: "I'm afraid of losing ..." I stopped immediately. This was quite a surprise for someone with few possessions, yet the thought was so clear I could not question it.

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