Fear Cripples a Moment
Fear taints all aspects of life. It distorts truth. What is perceived as real is far from reality. It hinders. It chains and oppresses. Fear is an entity, a life-robbing being which drapes its wrath about you, impersonating comfort until you’re comfortable in it.
Fear touches the vast crevices of life so that it’s something that can’t be disregarded or discarded. It seems as though it’s embedded and permanent, part of the very thread that makes up the fabric of who you are and the life you’re living.
Fear. It influences decisions, dictates relationships, and designs schedules.
What Sways Your Decisions
Think, how much of our choices are controlled by fear; others’ opinions, what we’re lacking, what choices today will effect tomorrow. We fear for our health and that of our loved ones and friends. We’re afraid of death and dying and loss and sorrow.
Easily overcome by mind-altering grief, fear robs us of life and causes us to be ill. Are you ready to live your life; to live it free of fear? Are you ready to open up your world? I pray you are!
Live Focused on God
Talk to Christ always, invite His Holy Spirit to dwell within you, and grow in a deeply intimate relationship with Him. With the Holy Spirit living inside, God can guide you, encourage you, and fill you with His peace. Also, as He becomes more of a focus in your life, fear is naturally diminished.
When we have Christ, first and foremost, at our center; when we choose to keep our eyes on Him, regardless of the circumstances in our life, His qualities fill us to overflowing. Though I know this and encourage it for others, I must confess my own shortcoming.
I’ve been terribly afraid to travel. For whatever reason, the passenger seat of a vehicle makes me anxious. During the drivers training of my two older daughters, they both asked me not to ride with them ever again, as I clearly expressed my nervousness. It’s not comfortable being in the passenger seat where the brake pedal doesn’t exist.
Fear Limits Life
I am a homebody. I claim it and enjoy it, but deep inside, I wonder if it is so because it caters to my fear. My second daughter moved to the Los Angeles region when she was younger. She’d come home a couple times to visit and suggested I visit her in LA. I smiled, knowing it’d never happen. That made me sad though. I felt the limitations fear had put on me and the support I wanted to show my child.
A Gift I Couldn’t Give
I’m not good at gift giving. Since Hannah was turning the magical twenty-one, I purchased her two tickets to the LA Winefest, a wine tasting in an outdoor setting. She suggested I join her.
The best gift was something I couldn’t give, my visit. After a lot of prayer, I offered to fly cross-country to see her. Her reaction of joy was precious, but from that day on, I was anxious. I was filled with fear. Days were spent worrying about the flight, the drive into the city airport, parking, and finding the right terminal.
I never envisioned actually being with my daughter. Perhaps I feared death was imminent before reaching her. This fear continued for nearly two weeks. I wasn’t excited in the least. My anxiety spread into many areas of my life. Peace was present, but it was more of a resignation.
One day, my husband commented about how great and relaxing it was going to be for me to be on vacation. Vacation? Never had I considered it vacation. Fear, death, an accident, yes, but vacation in beautiful California with my dearly loved daughter, no.
That word, vacation, hung with me all day long, and I realized I wanted to believe that. Desperately I wanted to believe. Vacation was so much more wonderful a belief than the fear that had imbedded itself into my being.
At some time that night, I felt like God freed me. It was supernatural. I was able to be excited during the few days leading up to my departure. On the day I left, I woke early, showered, put my bags into the car, kissed my husband goodbye, drove my son to school, and headed out on my journey.
I Was Freed!
The drive was wonderful as I worshipped and rejoiced, singing along with praise songs on Pandora. When I got close to the city and the traffic got more congested, I had no fear. When I saw a plane overhead, my heart leapt. I would’ve thought it was butterflies from fear, but it wasn’t. I felt, in that moment, that I had just opened a present, and that present was the world. An extreme excitement filled me.
The fear that had crippled me was now unable to stop me from seeing how much bigger life was than just my own home. That revelation, the power of God in me overcoming my fears, caused tears to flow!
I arrived at the airport and had to park in overflow parking, which cost less. After making my way through security I sat down to a light lunch, free of fear. I waited for my flight, boarded the plane, sat between two wonderful people, watched a movie, saw amazing sights of the country far below, and arrived to be hugged by my daughter!
Live Free of Fear
How awesome life is when we fill ourselves up with God so that His Being displaces the false realities of fear. Fear cripples a moment, God relaxes it, and the view of reality transforms. No longer hindered, anything is possible.
Comfort impersonated by fear becomes a weight lifted when we turn to God. The view is so much greater when it isn’t obstructed by distress. I pray you, as well, can be filled to overflowing, free of fear in the process, and enjoy the unlimited life God has designed for you.
God’s peace,
Rebecca
To read my blog which oppositely suggests fear in your life, click to read Embrace A Fear of God.