I learned the high price of tension the hard way. The excruciating pain of a physical problem hit me in the middle of the night. The next day I went to see our family doctor. He referred me to a specialist. The specialist decided the answer to my problem was a certain very painful treatment. After suffering this procedure several times, I asked the specialist, “How long will I have to go through this?”
His answer crushed me: “Probably for the rest of your life off and on.”
Discouraged, I tried another doctor, who sought to help me through another approach. But I went on suffering from this problem off and on for two years–until my husband and I moved to another city. Then miraculously the ailment disappeared.
It reappeared briefly several years later. But by this time I had figured out what caused it. The reason I had developed the problem the first time was because I had been caught in a pressure-cooker situation
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How tension and fear hurt us
In his book, Release From Tension, Dr. Paul E. Adolph says, “It is conservatively estimated that over 50 percent of the patients who come to the general practitioner’s office in our large cities have no demonstrable organic disease. They are, nevertheless, suffering real disease symptoms on an emotional tension basis.”
He says that three such tension problems may be “(1) the stiff-neck tension pattern; (2) the chest tension pattern; and (3) the stomach tension pattern.” The first may cause pain in the head or back, tension, and apprehension. He says it may result from lack of backbone in dealing with seemingly overwhelming problems. The second affects the heart and may be related to our “losing heart.” The third causes nervous indigestion, and may result from our being “fed up.”
Many other medical experts believe that 75 percent of people’s physical problems are psychosomatic, meaning that they arise from conflicts, fears, or tensions that affect the body adversely. These ailments may be temporary, such as headaches, digestive problems, or heart flutters. hey arise from fear, and from our failure to deal with conflict.
Dr. Clyde M. Narramore says, “Knowing how these normal, everyday emotions influence body functions, we are better able to understand how, over a period of time, strong and persistent emotional conflicts may disturb the working of body organs such as the heart or the stomach. It is believed that in some cases they can eventually result in an actual change in the organ itself” (The Psychology of Counseling).
In studying the effects of the emotion of fear on men who had engaged in serial combat, psychologists reported the following physical symptoms: Irritability, butterflies in stomach, feeling of unreality, feeling confused and rattled, poor memory for what happened on mission, poor ability to concentrate, restlessness, poor appetite, and bad dreams.
Facing the problems
A friend of mine, Beth, landed in the hospital with a seemingly undiagnosable ailment. Her doctor thought it must be related to some unendurable life situation. He was right. Beth and her husband had slept in separate bedrooms for over a year while he carried on an affair with his secretary. The situation being so close at hand had been tearing Beth apart.
“You’ve got to face your problems,” the hospital psychiatrist told her. ”Learn how to live with them and forget about them.”
The next day Beth read in a devotional booklet, “Take your burdens to the cross and leave them there. When Christ arose, he took our burdens with Him.”
Then she read the Scripture: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:38).
“Well,” Beth exclaimed softly, “here I am paying a psychiatrist a lot of money just to hear what I’ve heard in church all my life!”
Turning her problem over to the Lord, Beth recovered and went home. She felt led to confront her husband with a choice; he chose his young girlfriend and moved in with her. Beth just rested in the Lord. Six months later her husband got right with the Lord and begged Beth’s forgiveness. He came home a new man. While Beth rested, God took care of the matter.
Good advice from God’s Word
Through the years I have sought to live by God’s great principles.Thus I have gone through life with comparatively good health and His peace that passes all understanding, even though I experienced many difficult times.
Some of the greatest principles we can live by were given us by Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7. (1) Forgive others; (2) Be reconciled with them; (3) Love and pray for your enemies; (4) Leave judgment to God; (5) Return good for evil; (6) Don’t worry–seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and God will take care of everything.
I have learned that by forgiving all those who hurt me, I save myself and my body from the pain and illness that resentment, bitterness, and self-pity cause. I also enjoy the peace and joy of the Lord.
Jesus also gave us here the marvelous Golden Rule: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). Just think how following this would reduce tension in lives!
The following are some other encouraging, instructive Scriptures that have not only helped me through stress-filled times, but others as well: Psalms, Chapters 23, 31, 34, 37, 40, 46, 51, 103, 139; Proverbs 3:5-12; Isaiah 26:3-4; John, chapters 14-17; Romans 8; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Ephesians (All!); Philippians 4; Hebrews 4:15-16, 13:5-6; 1 John 1:9, 4:19, 5:11-15.
God’s Word has the answers to all of life’s problems.
Tags: avoid tension, conflict, Dr. Muriel Larson, emotional conflict, forgive, forgiveness, health, LIFE, stress, tension, Women
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