Reason #248
My eyes popped open early this morning. It was well before the time my alarm was set to go off. Pitch black. I was in bed, snuggled up with Scout and I wasn't sure why I woke up. I heard noises but I couldn't quite decipher what I was hearing. So my mind began to create terribly scary scenarios. I began to draw from scary stories, so I laid in bed paralyzed. I didn't want to move, I didn't want breathe. I was hot but afraid to pull back the covers. Those thin sheets were the only thing keeping me safe. My sense of security was no where to be found because I was the only thing standing between me and whatever lay outside the realm of my mattress. I tried to rationalize my fright. I did my best to label the noise and talk some sense into myself. But it didn't matter. My brain was going a million miles an hour and I couldn't shut it off. So I laid there, very still, very quietly and I wished for the sun to hurry and rise.
Some times I feel very brave. I think I've got it down. Some times I think I've faced enough fear that not much else seems scary. But when the sun is shining, when the light is flooding in, it's easy to be brave. It's easy to feel fearless when you can see clearly. But the Lord is teaching me about fear because I'm slowly coming to realize I'm not as brave as I thought I was. Strip away my sense of security, get my by myself, feed my imagination, and it's a different story. It doesn't take much, really, to cause fear either. Throw in a little bit of insecurity, a dash of vulnerability, threaten stability, add a touch of doubt and I'm afraid all over again. So I find myself balled up under a thin sheet of false security afraid to move, afraid to turn over and face this little moster I've created in my mind. A fear that I have fed with lies that has now grown into something that I feel threatened by. So I retreat. I become paralyzed and I just want it to be over. I just want it to go away.
But there comes a time in life when you have to crawl out from under the sheets and face it. Face that fear, that potential monster that may be lurking around the corner. You have to be brave and move in that direction to see if it really exists. Because here's what I'm finding out. Most of the fears we have are self-made. Most of these terrifying shadows are created by our wild imaginations. Sure, they may originally stem from something legitimate and rational, but we let a little doubt in and we feed it until it gets out of hand. We allow it to grow because we're afraid to face it, afraid to check it out. And so this fear has now become irrational and seems too big to face. So we don't do it. We just hide our faces, turn the other way, start moving in a different direction and try to out run it. But the truth is, it just follows you waiting for another moment to creep back up. So the only way to fight fear, the only way to defeat those self-created monsters, is with truth. And the truth is that we don't have to be afraid because we're never alone. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified... for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9) Our real sense of protection is there. That flimsy sheet covering our trembling bodies won't do much, but He will. So I remember the words of Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will trust in you." Because that's the best solution right there. Trust. Trust in Him because He will take care of us. He is our shield, our light, our protection, our security. And so the sheets are pulled back, we leave the false secruity of the mattress, and we face our fears head on knowing that the One who goes with us always fights for us. And with God on your side, there's no reason to ever be afraid.
#248 - Because He will face our fears with us.
"The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?" -Psalm 27:1
Some times I feel very brave. I think I've got it down. Some times I think I've faced enough fear that not much else seems scary. But when the sun is shining, when the light is flooding in, it's easy to be brave. It's easy to feel fearless when you can see clearly. But the Lord is teaching me about fear because I'm slowly coming to realize I'm not as brave as I thought I was. Strip away my sense of security, get my by myself, feed my imagination, and it's a different story. It doesn't take much, really, to cause fear either. Throw in a little bit of insecurity, a dash of vulnerability, threaten stability, add a touch of doubt and I'm afraid all over again. So I find myself balled up under a thin sheet of false security afraid to move, afraid to turn over and face this little moster I've created in my mind. A fear that I have fed with lies that has now grown into something that I feel threatened by. So I retreat. I become paralyzed and I just want it to be over. I just want it to go away.
But there comes a time in life when you have to crawl out from under the sheets and face it. Face that fear, that potential monster that may be lurking around the corner. You have to be brave and move in that direction to see if it really exists. Because here's what I'm finding out. Most of the fears we have are self-made. Most of these terrifying shadows are created by our wild imaginations. Sure, they may originally stem from something legitimate and rational, but we let a little doubt in and we feed it until it gets out of hand. We allow it to grow because we're afraid to face it, afraid to check it out. And so this fear has now become irrational and seems too big to face. So we don't do it. We just hide our faces, turn the other way, start moving in a different direction and try to out run it. But the truth is, it just follows you waiting for another moment to creep back up. So the only way to fight fear, the only way to defeat those self-created monsters, is with truth. And the truth is that we don't have to be afraid because we're never alone. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified... for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9) Our real sense of protection is there. That flimsy sheet covering our trembling bodies won't do much, but He will. So I remember the words of Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will trust in you." Because that's the best solution right there. Trust. Trust in Him because He will take care of us. He is our shield, our light, our protection, our security. And so the sheets are pulled back, we leave the false secruity of the mattress, and we face our fears head on knowing that the One who goes with us always fights for us. And with God on your side, there's no reason to ever be afraid.
#248 - Because He will face our fears with us.
"The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?" -Psalm 27:1
Comments
Post a Comment