FEAR NOT!

A faith-based debut memoir about overcoming fear.

Thomson, a professional consultant, notes at the opening of this work that fear itself is a healthy instinct—one that’s built into humanity’s “fight, flight, or freeze” instincts for self-preservation. The main problem with fear, she points out, is that it “tends to stay with us long-term.” She writes of this aspect from a personal place, reflecting on the time in her life when she was in “a death-trap of panic attacks, grueling pain, and hopelessness.” This is further illustrated, in part, by a story from her childhood about when her family was involved with the Shepherding movement, a charismatic Christian group that, she says, critiqued its members’ “flaws and imperfections,” which led her father to experience severe anxiety: “tormenting inner voices that constantly accused and berated him, causing great fear.” Thomson writes that she’s no longer part of that group, but she remains a fundamentalist Christian, and she uses her faith as the foundation for her book. The book’s overarching theme—that faith is the staff against fear—will resonate with a devoutly religious audience, and much of the advice will be familiar to them: “Every time a fearful thought or comment springs up, combat it with powerful healing promises and decrees from Scripture,” she advises at one point, for example. She also smoothly interweaves details from her own life, seeking to create a broader picture of modern life for Christians as beset on all sides by the threats of pain, illness, and other troubles. Thomson stresses that God created every person specifically for the times they’re facing, which means they have the capacity to deal with anything; however, this idea may not comfort readers who are currently facing overwhelming circumstances beyond their control. Many Christian and non-Christian readers may also be skeptical of some other concepts in the book, such as “divine healing.”

A deeply personal account and self-help guide that will most appeal to a fundamentalist Christian audience.