[nandm]

Fear is a faith that something bad is going to happen. The authors show us where to note the fears that we identify. In our next fourth step list, we examine the fears that we have noted here and learn a successful method of outgrowing these fears.

Unexamined fears unconsciously control our actions. When, in many situations we act upon our faith that something bad is going to happen, we place ourselves in the position to be hurt.

The clear-cut directions for the fears list of our fourth step are given here. Clearly we are to write this list down. We add to the fears we identified in our resentment list any other fears that we may have. the first column contains a description of our fear, e.g., "I am afraid of being alone." The second column contains the reason we have this fear and the third column contains the solution to our fear. The authors suggest a reason for our fears, which is a reliance upon our human resources rather than God.

We who have no experience with God working in our lives believe that our own human resources are the only power to which we have access. Our fear comes from the knowledge that our own power is often not enough. Some of our fears are instinctual, such as the fear of falling that we have from the time we are born. We learn some fears from experience. We experience a negative result and we have faith that we will always experience that same result. We may ask someone for help and be rejected, so we fear we will be rejected again. Fears such as this govern our actions. Some fears serve to keep us out of danger but when we are controlled by unreasonable fears we are not always free to act in our own best interests. This is a method of applying reason and the Power of god to our fears.

We look at aour fears again. Many of the fears that controll us are unreasonable. We have never applied reason to them. We adopted many of the ideas behind our fears prior to becoming mature adults. This is our chance to re-evaluate our fears when we are sober adults.

By listing the fears that we have, we develop the ability to identify the forces within us that drive us to act the way we do. Many of our less desirable reactions to life are the result of fears. We may treat our spouse badly because we fear they may leave us. We may avoid other people because we fear they may not like us. We may steal because we fear we may not be able to make it on our own. None of these methods of coping with life are entirely successful. By listing our fears, examining them in the light of our new way of life, and seeking help from God, we place ourselves in the position to begin to outgrow them.

Using bravado to cover up our fear and denying that we have it is one of the signs of fear causing us to act in foolish ways.

We adopted this new basis of our lives by making our third step decision. This is a good example of exactly how to put our decision into action. Our old way was to rely solely on our own inner resources and coping skills we had developed over time. We either avoided the source of our fear or we denied having it and acted in an unsuccessful way to overcome it. Our new way to deal with our fear is to identify it, examine it and ask God to remove it. This way works. As we try it repeatedly on all our fears, we see for ourselves that it does work and we come to rely upon it.

The key word here is "do." Seeking to do God's will as we gain a thorough understanding of who and what we really are will produce in us the humility necessary to receive God's grace. We see that our problems are of our own making, that we are the source of the calamity in our lives. god gives us the strength to meet life's difficulties when we aree humble enough to ask for it.

Knowing that God will give us the strength to meet any of life's challenges gives us courage. When we relied solely on our own power, fear of failure would sometimes prevent us from even trying. When we are seeking to do God's will, we know even what seems to be failure will turn out for the best. We can learn and grow ratehr than have our self esteem destroyed by our failures.

Asking "Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would havee us be" is the key to overcoming our fears. Turning to God for help is the guiding principle of our new way of life. This prayer asking God to remove our fear is an important part of our new way of life. Rather than be driven by worrying about what we may lose or fail to gain for ourselves, we aak God to help shape our lives.

Our fears, based on self, no longer fit in our new lives. As we change the focus in what we desire in life from the satisfaction of our instinctual drives to a life based upon seeking God's will our fears seem to disappear. By relying upon our Higher Power, we find that our needs are met and that our wants change. Our self-centered fears of losing what we have and of not getting what we want lose their power over us.