Why Am I Afraid Of People?


By Phil Scovell




     "What's on your mind to pray about today?" I said to Carla as
our prayer session began.

     "I still feel a little bit of fear from time to time," she
replied, "but something that is really bothering me right now,
that I just don't seem to be able to figure out, is my feelings
about being around other people.  I am often fearful," she
continued to explain, "that someone is going to judge me or say
something about me that will hurt my feelings."

     I knew this feeling quite well, of course, from personal
experience.  I had been healed in many different areas where this
feeling had infected my life.  This type of fear, and it is fear
based without a doubt, includes the fear of not being accepted,
not being good enough, and is easily seen in perfectionists.
This woman, by the way, is a perfectionist and has been all her
life, she confessed more than once, so I was pretty certain where
we might end up as we prayed.

     Within seconds of opening in prayer, Carla said, "I see my
kindergarten teacher's face just all of the sudden."

     I prayed more and Carla reported she just saw herself in
class but nothing else came to mind.  I prayed a little more but
she reported the same and said, "I don't feel anything wrong in
this memory."  Since this apparently was a theme Carla experienced
throughout her life, I knew there would be other places this pain
would be surfacing so I prayed for further expansion of her
memories by the Holy Spirit.

     Suddenly, Carla said, "I'm on the playground.  The girls are
playing jump rope.  They were taking turns stepping into the
swinging ropes at just the right time and taking over as the
other girl just as quickly stepped out."  She continued by saying,
"I had never tried this before but wanted to and so I did but I
messed up and the roped stopped twirling.  My kindergarten
teacher, standing near by, spoke harshly to me and told me I
didn't know what I was doing and to get out of their way.  This
really hurt me," Carla reported.  "Over the years," she said, "I
have thought about this experience hundreds of times and have
always wondered why she was so mean about it.  I was a very shy
person when I was little and what she said, and how my teacher
spoke to me, really hurt my feelings."

     Praying, I asked the Lord to show her His truth and the Holy
Spirit spoke to her in her thoughts and said for her not to worry
about this any more because He was there when it happened and she
did absolutely nothing wrong.  "Furthermore," the Lord instructed,
"your teacher was in the wrong and had problems of her own."

     I run across this type of woundedness in nearly every person
with whom I pray; including myself.  I told Carla this same thing
happened to me when I was about 10 years of age.  We had sort of
an antiques day.  Students were to bring old and unusual things
to school to be placed on a display table.  All sorts of neat
things were brought to the classroom that week.  The teacher made
a big deal about the no touching rule.  She wanted no one to
touch a single thing for any reason.

     One day I was the only student in our classroom for a few
minutes after lunch.  You guessed it.  I picked something up off
the table to get a better look at it and immediately felt
convicted.

     The next day, I sat in my seat during class and debated over
and over again what I should do.  Finally, my Christian upbringing
got the best of me and I slowly got out of my seat and walked to
the teacher's desk.  This was my favorite teacher of all my
elementary school teachers.  I quietly explained to her that I had
broken the rule and had picked up one of the items.  Instead of
saying, "Well, Philip.  I appreciate your honesty and since
nothing was damaged, we will let it go this time.  Just remember
not to touch anything again and thank you for being truthful,"
just the opposite happened.  Her face turned angry and her voice
sharp.  She said, "You know the rules.  You should never have done
that.  Furthermore, you should have never told me you did it in
the first place."  I was heart broken.  My favorite teacher not
only reprimanded me for telling her the truth but busted me as if
I were a common criminal.  I quickly and quietly hurried back to
my seat and more confused than ever about her statement that I
should have never told her in the first place.  I had no idea what
she meant and was heart broken.

     The very weak I prayed with Carla about her similar
experience with her teacher, my own childhood memory had come to
my mind.  When it did surface in my thoughts, however, it didn't
hurt but it didn't feel right either.  I prayed and said, "Lord?
Why is this memory now coming to the surface after all these
years?  I know what happened but why did you bring this to my
mind?"

     The Lord clearly said, "Because I just wanted you to know
that you did the right thing by telling your teacher.  She was
wrong and you were right."

     Instantly I was set free from a childhood memory which
contained the penetrating pain of rejection and confusion about
honesty.

     Both these childhood experiences were carried throughout our
entire adult lives.  We knew, whenever the memories came to mind,
they hurt but we didn't know why until the Lord spoke His truth.
How could these harmless incidents have caused any problems?  The
lack of acceptance, the element of harsh unanticipated rejection,
the confusion of a child, the lack of concern on the part of the
teacher, all created a place for woundedness.  In Carla's case,
this became a theme that repeated itself hundreds of times
throughout her life until she decided, at a very early age, if she
was ever going to be accepted, she would have to be perfect in all
that she did and so she was.  In her heart, however, she knew that
this was impossible so she had never measured up to the
expectation of others.

     I often have people schedule prayer sessions who tell me,
once we get together, that they really don't have any bad
experiences.  I well remember the first time I sat down to pray
with a man in his office.  I began by telling him I came from a
wonderful Christian home with wonderful Christian values and that
I was a happy child.  Thus, I didn't have anything wrong back in
my childhood.  After a few prayer sessions, I found out just how
wrong I was.

     When Carla told me she was always fearful of what people
might say to her and that she was fearful of being judged harshly
and when she told me that she didn't feel comfortable in crowds, I
already knew the type of experience we would find in her
childhood.  I prayed for the Lord to take us to where this all
began and He did and Carla was healed.  Was this just a small
thing?  I explained to Carla that these things which seem so
frivolous and harmless often are huge stumbling blocks in our
lives and especially when the experience becomes a thematic, or
repetitive, experience which is built upon over and over again.

     I have little doubt that nearly everyone reading this
testimony has had something already come to your memory that is
similar to what I have just described.  Call me and let's pray
about it so you can be set free.

Phil.

I Flew Kites With Jesus
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com