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CBN.com –Doctors say that panic attacks have no “medical origin.” And yet those who experience them know they’re real. Here’s how one woman conquered hers ….
”It was like this invisible barrier, and the end of the driveway is as far as I could go,” says Tammy Hanks.
Once when she went beyond it, Tammy says, “I was pouring sweat. My heart was racing. I turned around and by the time I got back … I was physically sick.”
Tammy suffered with panic attacks for 20 years. The fact that she was a Christian made her feel guilty for having them.
“The whole root of a panic attack – doubt, fear, confusion, things that don’t come from God,” she says. “I had never completely relied on God to help me with it. I became what they call agoraphobic, where I was afraid to leave the house. And that’s when I started calling The [700 Club] prayer line – daily. The prayer counselors were so wonderful about giving me Scriptures, and some I went back to time and time again.”
Tammy found that meditating on those Scriptures started to melt her fears.
“I had to give it to Him,” she says. “And stop trying to fight it and stop trying to deal with it on my own. And once I did that, He took it away.”
After a few months of study and prayer, Tammy realized the severe panic wasn’t there anymore. But would it last? The big test was in July, ’06, when Tammy went on a family vacation.
“It doesn’t matter where you are. You have to trust God and believe that He’s with you,” she says. “It went great, because I didn’t rely on anything but God.
She remains grateful to The 700 Club counseling center and those who support it. “Anybody that doesn’t know that number needs to memorize it, because they have some of the most wonderful, caring people,” she says. “The 700 Club is right up there in things that I’m thankful for.”
Tammy says, “I wouldn’t go back – even without the panic attacks – to the way I thought before. “
And to those who struggle with fear as she once did, Tammy says “You can have a normal life. You can do things that the devil might try to convince you that you can’t.”
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
