Anyone else anxious?

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becauseIsaidso

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Quick intro: I love God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I love the Catholic Church. My friends think I am mucho orthodox. I just consider myself obedient.

Occassionally I have sudden twangs of anxiety about death. Specifically, I fear going to Hell.

Does this mean I don’t trust God’s love? This just makes me feel more anxious because I *should * trust God and His infinite mercy.

Sometimes I tell myself that my anxiety is just a little purgatory on earth or a way to offer my sufferings up for the souls in purgatory.

Does anyone else go through this mental anguish? Am I just scrupulous? Or is God really trying to warn me that I am on the fast track to a sizzling eternity?

Yikes! Where’s my Celexa?!
 
I’m no expert, just a beginner in spirituality myself. I’ll tell you my own experience, though, because it might help.
First of all, we need to realize that emotions, which aren’t entirely under our control, aren’t entirely our fault. How we deal with them is what matters.
That said, I occasionally have moments of fear of being separated from God. They’re only occasional, and from your post, it sounds like yours are also occasional and sudden, not something that is interfering with your everyday life on a regular basis. Correct me if I’m wrong. My flashes of fear don’t affect me on an everyday basis, and when I deal with them appropriately, they don’t last long. To give a concrete example, I once had a nightmare that I deliberately, with full knowledge and full consent, missed Mass on Sunday. I woke up and was so relieved to realize I hadn’t done it. Since then, I have an occasional terror of missing Mass and/or falling into mortal sin. If for whatever reason I don’t make it to Mass on Sunday morning, I get very nervous that I might somehow decide not to go to the Sunday evening Mass (that’s what happened in my nightmare). What I do is remind myself that I have complete control over whether or not I deliberately miss Mass, so my fear will only be realized if I allow it to be, and I’m not likely to allow it to be (having not missed Sunday Mass deliberately in years). I let it pass, and I try to learn from it. I learn that I am totally dependent on God’s grace and that if He stopped supporting me, I would fall. Of course, I know He won’t abandon me. I also learn that I genuinely fear being separated from God, which shows that I genuinely want to be with God. I learn, too, not to grow complacent in my struggle with sin. When I do this, the fear doesn’t last long, and I can go on with my day. It would be a different story if I chose to indulge in fear.

I hope this helped and that it somehow related to your situation. If not, let us know, and I’m sure someone will have something good to say, even if I don’t.
 
Grace and Glory:
I also learn that I genuinely fear being separated from God, which shows that I genuinely want to be with God. I learn, too, not to grow complacent in my struggle with sin. When I do this, the fear doesn’t last long, and I can go on with my day. It would be a different story if I chose to indulge in fear.

I hope this helped and that it somehow related to your situation. If not, let us know, and I’m sure someone will have something good to say, even if I don’t.
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Thank you for your concrete advice. It helps a lot to be reminded that if I fear being apart from God then I must still be on the right track.

You are right, the hardest part some days is not becoming complacent in my daily walk.

I think my fears of Hell started about 8 years ago after sharing with my parents a very vivid “End of the World” dream I had. In the dream I watched the world end, everything turn white, and then I was awake. But I was afraid to open my eyes because it suddenly hit me that, wow, this is eternity. How will I be spending it?

My dad’s response? “Hmmm, must be something you need to change if you’re afraid of the end.”

AAGGHH! :eek: I hadn’t known I was afraid of my mortality until that moment.

Don’t you just love parents? 😉
 
If you’re familiar with the apparitions at Fatima, the three children who received visions once had a vision of Hell in which they were so shocked and and terrified they actually began writhing and crying out in terror. If memory serves me, one of the children actually went into shock after having that vision. We have good reason to be afraid of Hell, to seek holiness and salvation for ourselves, and to seek to bring others to Christ. Hell is real, and it is evil. But we do well to remember that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ’s Church, and that death has no power over Christ. It might help to read and meditate upon Scripture passages that recall the might, glory and power of Christ is triumphant over hell and evil.

I deal with some of the anxiety myself, and continually have to remind myself of God’s love and mercy. What helps me most often is picturing God as my loving father - which indeed, he is. Times when someone such as my dad, my husband or a friend demonstrates love for me, I think how amazing it is and how God’s love for me is inifinitely more powerful and deep.
 
becauseIsaidso,
The fear of hell is sometimes helpful for our spiritual life. Hell is real so we should remember that the outcome of our sins will be hell. We should not overuse a fear of hell because it can lead to anxiety. The final goal for our spiritual life is not to do good out of the fear of hell, but to do good and avoid evil because we love God. This is what you want to try for. Remember God is bigger than sin and through confession we are absolved of our sins.

matthew
 
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goravens:
If you’re familiar with the apparitions at Fatima, the three children who received visions once had a vision of Hell in which they were so shocked and and terrified they actually began writhing and crying out in terror. If memory serves me, one of the children actually went into shock after having that vision. We have good reason to be afraid of Hell, to seek holiness and salvation for ourselves, and to seek to bring others to Christ. Hell is real, and it is evil. But we do well to remember that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ’s Church, and that death has no power over Christ. It might help to read and meditate upon Scripture passages that recall the might, glory and power of Christ is triumphant over hell and evil.

I deal with some of the anxiety myself, and continually have to remind myself of God’s love and mercy. What helps me most often is picturing God as my loving father - which indeed, he is. Times when someone such as my dad, my husband or a friend demonstrates love for me, I think how amazing it is and how God’s love for me is inifinitely more powerful and deep.
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Thank you goravens.
My mom gave me a Fatima coloring book when I was a little girl and I have loved the story ever since. I will definitely use your advice about using the love I find in the special guys in my life to remind me about God’s infinte love.
Thanks again for the concrete ideas.
It helps a lot to know that others sometimes have moments of anxiety as well.
👍
PIC
 
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becauseIsaidso:
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…Sometimes I tell myself that my anxiety is just a little purgatory on earth or a way to offer my sufferings up for the souls in purgatory.

Does anyone else go through this mental anguish? Am I just scrupulous? Or is God really trying to warn me that I am on the fast track to a sizzling eternity?
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I don’t think you are being too scrupulous… I think that anyone who loves God should and does fear the thoughts of hell… “… because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of because they offend Thee my God who art all good and deserving of all my love…” I have anxiety disorder and I offer this suffering constantly for the souls in Purgatory. Granted I can get scrupulous at times…but better to be anxious about offending God than being too casual…
 
Id say its a hard process from turning fear of hell into love for God. Im in it right now, but must say, im getting there, i think.
 
I developed a fear of hell after watching The Exorcist with my uncle (who is a priest) when I was a teenager. He told me that hell is forever, which is something I didn’t know. This was around the time when I started saying the rosary and going to confession more often.

A few years later, when I converted in earnest, God revealed my sins to me one day. The best way I can describe it is that He shone a spotlight on my soul and let me see what was there. I remember feeling mortified about some of the sins I had committed in the past; up until that point, I didn’t even know that they WERE sins. This really jolted me, because if I had not been made aware of these sins, I know that they could easily have multiplied and worsened until I died, and that my salvation would therefore be endangered. At the same time, however, the experience was very cleansing and to this day I am grateful to God to revealing this to me. I begged God to help me to stay on the right path, and to gently nudge me toward it if I ever strayed in the future.

What worries me, though, are the number of people who have not and will not have this experience. Will they go to hell when they die? This was one of the first thoughts that came to me after my “revelation”, and it bothered me so much that I spent the next few years trying to convert people who were just not interested. I still put in my two cents when asked, but I spend most of the time praying for souls destined to go to hell.
 
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Annunciata:
I don’t think you are being too scrupulous… I think that anyone who loves God should and does fear the thoughts of hell… “… because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of because they offend Thee my God who art all good and deserving of all my love…” I have anxiety disorder and I offer this suffering constantly for the souls in Purgatory. Granted I can get scrupulous at times…but better to be anxious about offending God than being too casual…
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Thanks for the great idea to pray the Act of Contrition. I will do that, especially during any future anxiety attacks.

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