Fearless Victor: Freedom from Anxiety by the Leading of the Holy Spirit

By Chelsey Dollman

"Chelsey writes with disarming candour and genuine humility about her struggles with anxiety, and she offers hard-won, practical wisdom about how to face your own anxiety and overcome it. Her honesty, her insight, her directness, her compassion: all combine to make Fearless Victor a healing gift." M

• Language: English
• Publisher: Created By Design
• Release date: May 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781777389772

Book preview

Fearless Victor

Freedom from Anxiety by the

Leading of the Holy Spirit

By Chelsey Dollman

Title: Fearless Victor

Subtitle: Freedom from Anxiety by the Leading of the Holy Spirit

Cover: Alisha Kairos

Editor: Marijka Neal

Cover photos: taken by Chelsey Dollman.

Copyright © 2020 Chelsey Dollman. All rights reserved.

Canadian laws and regulations are public domain and not subject to copyright. Any unauthorized copying, reproduction, translation, or distribution of any part of this material without permission by the author is prohibited and against the law.

This book is dedicated to my beloved husband who loves me fearlessly, and without fault—who has walked through the valleys with me, and with his joyful humour has lifted me up to the mountain peaks. Life would be much less rich, less fun, less ‘everything’ without you.

To my daughters, Sydney and Ava—you both bring me so much joy, and I pray you will always know that your freedom is found in the Lord.

I love you.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 ……….Walking the Journey

Chapter 2 ……… The Principles of Walking

                              Free

Chapter 3 ……….Entering Rest and Discovering

                              Who You Are in Christ

Chapter 4 ……… Trust and Faith

Chapter 5 ……… The Next Leg of the Journey

Chapter 6 ……… Developing Peace

Chapter 7 ……… Freedom From Yesterday and

                              Hope for Tomorrow

Chapter 8 ……… Who Are You Feeding?

Chapter 9 ……… Neuroplasticity

Chapter 10 ……..Plan of Action

Chapter 11 ……..Forging Forward

Introduction

You may notice that the cover of this book features a collection of heart photos. These photos aren’t generic stock photos purchased to ‘pretty up’ the cover, but they are all photos taken by me, and they carry a personal story with them. What I’m about to share with you is beautifully intimate, and deeply personal; it brings me to tears as I write it.

When I began my journey of freedom from fear I felt the love of God so close to me. I felt His love with me everywhere I went—as it has always been—but especially in that season I was very aware of His love, and felt it so deeply. As I begun the journey, I started noticing heart symbols showing up in peculiar places. For example, I would be scrambling some eggs, and a piece of the egg would land on the pan in a heart-shape. Or I’d be rinsing the sink and in the basin there would be a pile of bubbles in the shape of a heart. In fact, the middle photo on the cover is a picture of heart that was the centre of a baked sweet potato. I was astonished!

At first I didn’t recognize that these hearts were a message from God, but all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit made me so keenly aware of these hearts. I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that it was a message of love from God; they were there for me to be reminded of His love for me in the midst of my day—throughout the day. Sometimes the hearts were to distract me from negative thinking, and sometimes they were there as a reminder to fill my mind with the love of God. Other times they would come when I was down, and needed encouragement. Still other times, they would come when I had a moment of breakthrough, and God was reminding me of His love in the victory over that battle.

I can tell you that these simple hearts have been a tangible and profound blessing to me. During that journey, they were angelic-like visits that got me through the day. These photos were all taken by me over the course of two years, but the amazing thing is that the hearts haven’t stopped showing up. The book cover could not contain them all much like our hearts and minds cannot contain or understand all the love our Father has given us.

I share this with you because I want you to know that God loves you, and I believe He tries to show His love for you in different ways. It may be through supernatural hearts, or it may be in other ways, but He does demonstrate His love for you; you may just need to be more aware, and keep your eyes and ears open. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your spiritual eyes and ears to see the Father’s love. I believe you will be blessed beyond measure as I was, and continue to be.

God isn’t only at work in your life when you’re spending time in prayer or doing ‘spiritual’ activities, but He is active and at work all day and all night, inside of you. He is working on your behalf to help you grow ‘little by little’ (Deuteronomy 7:22) and ‘day by day’ (2 Corinthians 4:16). I encourage you to meditate on the fact that God is with you right now, and ponder His presence in your life. Sometimes He will use a song, a Scripture, a friend, or a still, small voice to communicate that love to you, but it is there. Let Him interrupt your thoughts throughout the day. You are surrounded by the love of the King, and He loves to remind you. Enjoy the exciting adventure of being led by the Holy Spirit, and seeing what amazing plans God has in store for you. I pray this book will encourage you with practical teachings that you can implement, propelling you closer to God, and leading you into a place of complete freedom!

Whether you’re a new Christian, or have been a Christian your entire life, this book is for you. If you want to step out of the cycle of fear and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead you into freedom, this book is for you. God doesn’t use the perfect, He uses the willing. Time after time, we see this principle in Scripture. I believe you are willing to do the work, because you have picked up this book.

My prayer is that you are encouraged as you start this journey and do the work you need to do while you partner with God. Together, as you co-labour with Him, you will see the fruit of freedom in your life. I believe that God will give you the grace to overcome this obstacle because He is faithful to the very end.

"The Lord bless you

    and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace"

Numbers 6:22-26 (NIV).

C H A P T E R O N E

Walking the Journey

How many times have you felt like you are spiralling out of control? Too many to count? If we serve a God who loves us so completely and unconditionally, why is there a reason to worry? Actually—there isn’t, but our human minds can sometimes get in the way of our spiritual understanding. We find ourselves walking down a path of worry, causing us to believe that we are lacking faith if we struggle with anxiety.

I understand the feelings you have because I have had the very same ones. I wasted so many years living in fear, worry and anxiety. I didn’t even know what anxiety was at the time because I had grown so accustomed to living with it. I had grown accustomed to the symptoms: sweaty, panic-stricken inside, rapid heartbeat, dizziness—feeling like the fear inside is suffocating you. Deep down you know that your fears are irrational, yet, they’re very real to you. No one else seems to understand how you feel because they don’t struggle with the same crippling fear. They tell you to not be afraid, and it seems simple to them, but the fear is often debilitating—it holds you back. It holds you prisoner—causing you to be afraid to step out. It holds you back from taking chances on things—even fun things, or trying something new. It keeps your loved ones from enjoying the real you, and enjoying new adventures with you. They want to see you set free from fear. They try to help you, but they feel powerless, unsure of how to help you.

But, there is hope.

We can rely on the Holy Spirit to calm our fears, and often He does, but there is also choice involved in the process. If we expect the Holy Spirit to wave a wand every time we feel anxious, we will not learn the skills needed to combat these feelings. God is not the one giving us anxiety, it’s our broken thoughts. Fear does not come from God in any form. We are told in 2 Timothy 1:7, For God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (NKJV).

Instead, fear is typically a result of painful experiences, or traumas from our