Chronic fear and anxiety have a clear impact on our health. As head with his wife, Dr. Michele Neil-Sherwood, of the Functional Medical Institute in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dr. Mark Sherwood, naturopathic doctor, understands this. And he says the current upheaval in our country with protests and police only adds to the stress and fear many are experiencing.
On a recent episode of the Healthcare’s Missing Link podcast on the Charisma podcast network, Sherwood says, “When we’re living in chronic fear and chronic anxiety, in all kinds of upheaval, it absolutely will have a powerful effect on your system, specifically the immune system. The effect it has on the short term will be OK, but long term chronic [anxiety] will cause a weakening and a lessening of its effectiveness. So it’s going to weaken the strength, lessen its response. So therefore it becomes a health issue.”
So how can we find true peace? Sherwood explains several things we need to understand about biblical principles of authority and shares a story from his high school days. “I fixed the drinking fountain. I put some gum on there so that when it we pushed it, it would shoot it out instead of up. And wouldn’t you know it? The head football coach came by thereafter. And he pushed it. And you know what, the water went straight on his pants.”
When Sherwood was caught, he says, he experienced consequences in the form of two giant swats from a wooden paddle. “That was a fear that I needed to learn from,” he says. “How did I become free from the fear of getting a swat again? … I had to obey the rules. And so I had to search my heart and say, ‘God, help me. Help me obey the rules.'”
That’s what we need in our country, Sherwood says. If we want true peace and freedom from fear of authorities, he says, we need to understand that authority comes from God and obey the rules put in place. But he says there’s one more ingredient that can help. To hear his explanation and learn more about how to find peace and freedom from fear and anxiety, listen to the entire podcast here. {eoa}
