On Fear
Fear. It’s something everyone has in common. In a way, it connects us. Everyone is afraid of something and some of us, well, some of us are afraid of a lot of things.
There are so many possibilities. The big things like death, disease, loss, war, thieves. It seems like we’re all afraid of at least one of those things.
The small things like spiders, the dark, expired milk, being late. This category could go on and on. Take your pick. Anything and everything is acceptable here.
And then there are the things that maybe we don’t recognize as fear. I can call myself shy, buy really I’m just afraid of rejection or what people think of me. I could say I don’t have dreams and goals, I’m happy as I am, but I’m really just afraid of failure, not living up to my own plans. I could call it laziness, but I’m actually afraid to try something new.
Fear comes in all shapes and sizes, but all of it can be crippling. It stops us in our tracks and keeps us standing still or cowering in the corner.
Last night I, around midnight, I heard the heater turn on. It’s a loud thump and I know, I know, it’s the heater. In fact I think the words, “Oh it’s just the heater. . .” But then I let my mind wander and let the thought “But what if it’s not?” slip into my head and the next thing you know, in my mind we are all laying dead on the floor because it wasn’t the heater and the dog didn’t wake up to the murderers breaking in. And then I didn’t sleep very well, as you can imagine.
I’m tired of fear. I’m tired of the wariness and the heaviness of it. Sick of the cold chill of helplessness it brings.
I’m dying for the warmth and the sunshine. I want the exhilaration of embracing my life for all God intended it to be. And He did not intend for me to be laying in bed picturing all the ways to die. He wants me to sleep and rest in His presence.
He did not intend for me to sit at home and not take chances or follow my dreams because I’m afraid someone won’t like me or afraid I won’t succeed. God wants me to step out, in full confidence that He’s got my back. He’ll catch me if I fall and then He’ll gently set me back on my feet and whisper, “It’s okay. The world has not ended. Now try again.”
These Ordinary Graces 
Thank you so much for this reminder. I far too often let fear win, instead of fully and completely trusting God.
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He truly does want us to step up and follow our dreams. And even if there will be a bump in the road at times or maybe someone will reject us, we have to go for it. Because what if one day we realized it was too late and we didn’t try…wouldn’t that be sad. I say, go for it, what ever it is you dream of! xxx
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My greatest fear was losing my boyfriend, either to a freak accident or by breaking up. I was afraid of who I was without him.
And then he broke up with me and I had to face my greatest fear.
Since then I have had to face and conquer my fear. Without the fear of losing him holding me back, I’ve been able to conquer the world! It’s amazing what your fears are holding you back from.
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fear it´s an alarm in order to detect danger. It´s useful to survive but it was much more useful in the past when we used to live in caves.
When we feel fear We need to breath in and analyse what´s going on. Most of the time there is no real danger so we can realx.
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Great post. It’s amazing, fear or the idea of something happening can much more anxiety provoking than the thing itself. I remember having several nightmares about bad things happening sure that I would just “die” if they ever did and then a few of them did and I’m still here. God got me through them and it’s made me more confident that He’ll get me through the other scary things as well.
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It’s so easy to be paralyzed by fear. I’m trying, with God’s help, to move beyond fear and lack of confidence to accomplish some new things in my career. I needed your post!
Cindy Garrett Swanson
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I’ve been writing about fear a bit in my series too – my church just finished a series on Fear so it has been on my mind! Thank you for your words – I struggle so much with the same things.
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