Overwhelming Fear
My husband claims I'm afraid of many things. Personally I think I've overcome many fears over the years of my time in Brazil. I've found 3 inch scorpions on my desk chair and called my boys to come take pictures. I've helped my boys catch green snakes for their viewing pleasure. I learned to catch and hold pet iguanas to move them from cage to box for temporary holding. And I even overcame one of my greatest fears of all, wildly jumping from the big boat down to the sand without regard for possible broken limbs or dignity.
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| Scorpion on my office chair. |
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| Makeshift kitchen on week long boat trip. This was when I jumped in the water to rescue my water jug. |
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| Notice the closed eyes - it was from flying sand - not fear! |
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18
And yet I fear. I'm afraid of the future. I'm afraid of what it holds. I'm afraid of what will happen. I know God loves me and I know His love is good. But sometimes the fear is just so overwhelming. It's like that time I decided to get up on the stupid camp donkey for a little ride. Everybody does it. I take a turn and the donkey sat down - practically on top of my legs wrapped around its girth.
I've worked on my "fears" over the years. I thought I was doing fairly well. But what does one do when the pangs of grief and no courage take hold?
Breathe
Stop
Ask for help
Remember WHO is in control
Take off again
It's not a perfect formula. The fear may come back - again and again. But I can work hard to overcome and cast it out.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1
Thanks for your honesty, Michele. It is normal AND these are legitimate fears not something you imagined. Responding to fear when you are shaking in your boots takes a great deal of effort. I have found that my most valuable asset is to keep turning into the Presence of God and not away from Him, because our hope and our courage come from Him. Even the umph it takes to keep turning to Him and to keep insisting He give us the strength to carry on when we are afraid, comes from Him. We learn from our own experience and from the experience of others that He prevails when others do not!
ReplyDeleteI totally get this! Good words and great reminder of the Word dealing with the issue of fear.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouraging words...I always enjoy your blogs and posts! I am so thankful also that you are so very human and down to earth and are not afraid to share these things...I can relate to so many of them and I continually thank the Lord for you!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for the comments. Not often I get many. It was encouraging to get some feedback! :)
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