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OvercomingStress at Sea

Master Mariner

Anxiety Anger FearFailure Discouragement

Insecurity Injustice Salvation Peace

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Introduction to overcoming stressA terrifying experience that is beyond ourcontrol can occur at any time. We could findourselves in a car crash, or just be a witness toan accident. At sea our ship could be indistress or, as has happened to many seafarersrecently, pirates could board and kidnap thecrew, holding them to ransom. Non paymentof wages, overwork and marital problems areall major cause of stress when away at sea.

In time most of us get over our traumaticexperiences without needing help. But in somepeople, continual stress may set off a reactionthat can last for many months or years. This iscalled Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSDfor short.

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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD)

If you have have suffered from a terrifyingexperience, such as being held hostage, oreven when you have only observed a lovedone or close friend going through a similarexperience, you may feel anxious, depressed,grief-stricken, guilty and angry. This couldmean you may be suffering from PTSD andmay need to get help.You can tell if you have PTSD if you:

• have vivid memories, flashbacks ornightmares

• avoid things that remind you of theevent

• feel emotionally numb at times• feel irritable and constantly on edge,

but can’t see why• eat and drink more than usual• feel out of control of your mood

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• find it more difficult to get on withother people

• have to keep very busy to cope• feel depressed or exhausted

Reactions to stress can be accompanied byother symptoms:

• muscle aches and pains• diarrhoea• irregular heartbeats• headaches• feelings of panic and fear• depression• drinking too much alcohol and using

drugs (including painkillers).PTSD symptoms can start immediately orafter a delay of weeks or months. They usuallyappear within 6 months of the traumatic event.

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Stress at seaLife at sea is never easy. There is the everpresent danger of fire, stormy weather andshifting cargo. If your voyage takes youthrough the Gulf of Aden or off Somaliaand other coasts there is the added worryof attack and kidnap by pirates.

Perhaps you have already suffered thisterrifying experience, held hostage at gunpoint, locked up in your ship or ashore infilthy conditions. Nerves reach breakingpoint as you wait for release. At home yourfamily also waits anxiously and prays foryour safe return. You lose hope as thedays go by. Anxiety increases leading tostress and then despair.

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After months of negotiations your companypays a ransom and you are released. Athome you and your family try to relax andforget all about it, but you can’t sleep andworry about the next voyage. Fear givesway to anger at the injustice of your ordeal,affecting your behaviour and upsetting therelationship with your loved ones.

It seems that nobody cares what you gothrough to earn a living to support yourfamily. They probably wish you could findwork at home, but there isn’t any. Thoughthey care for you and worry about you,they cannot be with you on your ship,

but God is...

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In the Bible there are many examples ofpeople who had to cope with what is nowcalled PTSD. Joseph, Jeremiah and Jesusendured injustice, humiliation, beatings,torture and imprisonment. It was God’s planthat Jesus was taken to the cross to becrucified for our sins. Joseph and Jeremiahsuffered greatly in God’s service but wereeventually released; Joseph to achievegreatness as Prime Minister of Egypt andJeremiah to resume his life as one of thegreatest of God’s prophets.

Joseph endured a terrifying life change asa teenager when his brothers, jealous oftheir father’s favouritism to him, sold him toslave traders who brought him to Egypt. Hisbrothers took Joseph’s coat covered ingoat’s blood to their father, Jacob, and toldhim that he had been torn to pieces by awild animal. Jacob had already lost his be-loved wife, Rachel, giving birth to Joseph’syounger brother, Benjamin. Now he had tomourn the loss of Joseph until they werereunited twenty years later. (Genesis 37)

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A Pakistani woman also mourns as shedemonstrates for the release of a seafarerrelative imprisoned by pirates in Somalia.

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AnxietyLike so many, Jacob and Joseph had livesfull of trials and sadness. Normal life forJoseph was minding his father’s sheep. Atage seventeen he was hardly prepared foryears of slavery and imprisonment in aforeign land. We cannot imagine his anxietyand homesickness. Life can become hardand make demands on us that we do notwant to bear. Yet even the most undeserved,and pointless suffering is an opportunity forus to respond in such a way that God canmould us to be like him. Consider it pure joy whenever you facetrials of many kinds, because you know thatthe testing of your faith develops persever-ance. Let perseverance finish its work so thatyou may be mature and complete, not lackinganything. If any of you lacks wisdom, youshould ask God, who gives generously to allwithout finding fault, and it will be given toyou. But when you ask, you must believeand not doubt.

James 1:2-6

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When Joseph arrived in Egypt the captain ofthe king’s guard purchased him to be aslave in his home. But the Lord was withJoseph and gave him success in everythinghe did, which so impressed his master thathe put him in charge of all his household.But his master’s wife accused Joseph ofrape and he was thrown into prison. Animprisoned slave, though falsely accusedwas the lowest form of life. There were moretests to come because God was preparingJoseph for greater things and, because hehad behaved righteously, the prison wardenput Joseph in charge of the other prisoners,and the Lord gave Joseph success in all thathe did. (Genesis 39)

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hearsthem; he delivers them from all theirtroubles. Psalm 34:17

Joseph would have experienced the stress,of constant anxiety, which, in the long term,can impair judgment and cause physicalharm. But he was determined, with God’shelp to get through these challenging timesbecoming wiser and stronger for the future.

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My eyes are ever on the Lord,for only he will release my feet from

the snare. Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart

free me from my anguish.Psalm 25:15-17

Anxiety causes some people to give uptrying to help themselves when they gothrough demoralising and traumaticexperiences, which they feel they cannotcontrol and can do nothing about.

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This situation is what psychologists call‘learned helplessness’. People becomepassive and helpless and may slip into

victim mentalityindulging in self-pity. Some retreatinto themselves.Others start todrink heavily andthis leads toaggression and

depression and feelings of worthlessnessand shame.

Do not be anxious about anything, but inevery situation, by prayer and petition, withthanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends allunderstanding, will guard your hearts andyour minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

Pray as King David did when threatened: Deliver me from evildoers and save me

from bloodthirsty men. Psalm 59:2

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Anger and fearAnger and fear go together. Anger is thenormal response to fear. In the right place,and at the right time, anger and fear willhelp us to survive. But these emotions canbe very destructive in those suffering fromdistress caused by terrifying experiences.They hold us in bondage and may causeus to say and do things that we later regret,ruining our relationships with family, friendsand the people we work for.

An angry person stirs up conflict. Proverbs 29:22

Be still before the Lord and wait patientlyfor him; do not fret when people succeed intheir ways, when they carry out theirwicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;do not fret - it only leads to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed,but those who hope in the Lord will inheritthe land.

Psalm 37:7-9

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Living in God’s love and having a positiveattitude will help us overcome both anger

and fear.God is love.Whoever livesin love lives inGod and Godin them.Perfect lovedrives out fear. 1 John 4:16, 18

My enemies will turn back when I call forhelp. By this I will know that God is for me.In God I trust and am not afraid. What canman do to me?

Psalm 56:9, 11

Fear of death afflicts all of us. Jesus said: Do not be afraid of those who kill thebody but cannot kill the soul.

Matthew 10:28

I am the resurrection and the life. Theone who believes in me will live, eventhough they die; and whoever lives bybelieving in me will never die. John 11:25

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Failure and discouragementAfter bad experiences, we may feeldiscouraged or a failure, convinced we havelet others down. We probably didn’t, but thatdoesn’t stop us feeling bad about ourselves.The Bible tells of many people whom Godused mightily yet they considered them-selves failures or not up to the job.Gideon, a formidable warrior who defeatedan army of many thousands with 300 men,suffered from low self esteem. (Judges 6)

Elijah, a great prophet, confidently stood onMount Carmel calling down fire from heav-en. Yet the next moment he ran away andhid in the desert, filled with self-pity anddiscouragement, where he sat down undera tree and prayed for death. (1Kings 18 & 19)

These men were just stressed out humanbeings like us, but God’s Spirit set themback on their feet again.

For the Spirit God gave us does not makeus timid, but gives us power, love andself-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own

understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be

afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Proverbs 3:5-6, 23-25

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InsecurityWhen we enter pirate waters we protect

our ship with armedguards, barbed wire andhigh pressure hoses.These help to deterattacks by pirates butthey cannot make uscompletely secure.

Absolute security,as both Josephand Jeremiahlearned, can befound only in theLord.

If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ andyou make the Most High your dwelling, noharm will overtake you, no disaster willcome near your tent. For he will commandhis angels concerning you to guard you inall your ways.

Psalm 91:9-11

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InjusticeJeremiah was a reluctant prophet but hisfortitude in God’s service inspires all whoface real hardship and persecution. Asensitive and sympathetic man, Jeremiah

lived through two siegesin Jerusalem. Yet formore than 40 years hefaithfully told the Jewishnation that God woulduse the Babylonianinvaders to punish themfor their sins of unbeliefand idol worship.Refusing to compromise

the prophetic words that God had givenhim, Jeremiah endured beatings and unjustimprisonment, including being left to die inan underground, mud-filled cistern. He wasdepressed and lonely because God hadforbidden him to marry and he felt that lifewas pointless. After suffering a beating inthe stocks Jeremiah cursed the day he wasborn and blamed the Lord for deceiving him

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and letting him be publicly humiliated fordoing what God told him. (Jeremiah 20 & 37)

But so strong was his faith and trust inGod that he could still say: The Lord is with me like a mightywarrior; so my persecutors will stumbleand not prevail. They will fail and bethoroughly disgraced; their dishonour willnever be forgotten.

Jeremiah 20:11

Despite allowing him to be tested to theextreme, God protected Jeremiah. Intimes of difficulty we can learn much fromhis tenacity. Read the Book of Jeremiah inthe Bible and learn to trust the Lord whencoping with danger and hardship.Centuries later, the Apostle James wrote:

Blessed is the one who perseveresunder trial because, having stood the test,that person will receive the crown of lifethat the Lord has promised to those wholove him.

James 1:12

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Injustice can strike anywhere. It’s not onlythe pirates at sea who may hurt us!

Life isn’t fair. It never was. About 2,700years ago, the prophet Isaiah wrote: Truth is nowhere to be found, and

whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one,

he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him.

Isaiah 59:15-16

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The Lord’s arm, Jesus Christ, was a victimof injustice, but he took our sins upon him-self and died that we might have salvation.

He was despised and rejected bymankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their

faceshe was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our painand bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished byGod,

stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our

transgressions,he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peacewas on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.Isaiah 53:3-5

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SalvationLife at sea may bring us face to face with

the reality offear anddeath. Ourloved onescare aboutus and sodoes theLord Jesus.He gave usthe supremeexample ofself-sacrifice,2000 years

ago, on a hill at a place called the Skullnear Jerusalem where they crucified him.

Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, forthey do not know what they are doing.’ Andthey divided up his clothes casting lots. The people stood watching, and therulers even sneered at him. They said, ‘Hesaved others; let him save himself if he isGod’s Messiah, the Chosen One.’

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Jesus called out with a loud voice,‘Father, into your hands I commit myspirit.’ When he had said this, he breathedhis last. Luke 23:34-35, 46

And when the centurion, who stoodthere in front of Jesus, saw how he died,he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son ofGod!’ Mark 15:39

Jesus was crucified, not because he wasa criminal - he had never committed evena single sin. Rather, he was giving his lifefor all of our sins. In his last moments aslife ebbed away, only one of his disciples,Mary, his mother, and some other womenwere there. The rest of his followers hadrun away. By laying down his life, Jesusdefeated death because three days laterhe was alive again, risen from the dead.Jesus conquered sin and death forever sothat anyone who believes what he hasdone and follows him will also rise toeternal life. He gave his life for usbecause he cared,

and he will never leave us.

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We all have our anxieties and fears whichwe can only overcome with God’s help. Heaccepts us just as we are and wants us totrust in him. We will only be truly secure ifwe accept God’s gift of eternal life throughhaving faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.

God so loved the world that he gave hisone and only Son, that whoever believes inhim shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

For all have sinned and fall short of theglory of God. Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the giftof God is eternal life in Christ Jesus ourLord. Romans 6:23

If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus isLord,’ and believe in your heart that Godraised him from the dead, you will besaved. Romans 10:9

God has given us eternal life, and thislife is in his Son. Whoever has the Son haslife; whoever does not have the Son of Goddoes not have life. 1 John 5:11-12

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PeaceWhen we have put our trust in the LordJesus Christ we can ask him to help us tosolve our problems and to live the way hewants us to.When we return home, it is always hardfor our loved ones to adapt to our beingback, especially if we have been affectedby the trauma of a terrifying experience.The key to successfully rebuilding ourrelationships is to take things slowly andbe aware of our family’s needs. Always be gentle with others. Don’tworry about anything, but pray abouteverything. Then because you belong toChrist Jesus, God will bless you withpeace that no one can completelyunderstand. And this peace will controlthe way you think and feel.

Philippians 4:5-7 (CEV)

God is with us, wherever we are,at sea or at home.

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At sea there is little opportunity to visit a doctor andget practical advice, but you can help yourself throughprayer and by following a few simple guidelines:▪ keep life as normal as possible and get back to

your usual routine onboard ship and at home▪ talk about what happened to people you trust

and don’t bottle up your feelings▪ try relaxation exercises and don’t get over tired▪ eat and exercise regularly but don’t drink lots

of alcohol, coffee or smoke too much▪ take time to be with family and friends▪ be careful at your work or when driving – your

concentration may be poor and accidents aremore likely at this time

▪ expect to get better but don’t expect bad memo-ries to go away immediately, and don’t beatyourself up about it - PTSD symptoms are not asign of weakness. They are a normal reaction,of normal people, to terrifying experiences.

To download a complete leaflet on PTSD in Arabic,Chinese, Persian, Polish, Spanish and Urdu, and learnhow to control your stress, visit the web site of:

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK)www.rcpsych.ac.uk

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Scriptures quotations are taken from:The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised

edition)Copyright © 1979,1984,2011 by Biblica (formerly IBS)

Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers,an Hatchette UK company

All rights reserved.‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica (formerly IBS).

UK trademark number 1448790

Photographs:Copyright © Courtesy of Shutterstock

page 5 Asianet-Pakistan/Shutterstock.com

2012

The Bible is God’s word It has much more to say about how wecan find peace and salvation with God

through his Son, Jesus Christ.

To find Scripture verses in your Biblereferred to in this booklet:

For example on page 9, James 1:2-6 refers to the Book of James:

Chapter 1 verses 2 to 6.

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