{Caged} Faith vs Fear

 


Fear: noun
 a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

 I have lots of fears.. one of them people laugh at all the time.. I am TERRIFIED of bees. 

 

Yes those little yellow and black flying creators of honey scare me to death!! I've been known to hurt myself running from them. Silly I know, but a very real fear to me. I can't help it!! 

{but} this isn't the type of fear we are talking about today.

There are many types of fears that cage us in, and prevent us from doing the things that the Lord has asked of us, and really it comes down to this... HE has chosen US to do HIS work, HE belives in us, so why are we afraid to do HIS work with HIM by our side?? 

Here are some of the reasons I've found.. and some of the ways the Lord has shown us that we don't need to live in fear. 

{inadequacy} who hasn't felt that they aren't enough to take on the task at hand??  It's when we think we can do it by ourselves that we feel inadequate and not good enough, because we can't do it alone. 
When I was a teenager I had no desire to be a parent ever. Not just at that time but ever. I was so afraid that because of all the hurts, anger, depression, and emptiness I would be a seriously inadequate parent, completely lacking in all a child would need from me. The Lord had His own plan... as he always does, and I got pregnant at 18... I had Drew my oldest at 19, and man oh man talk about a serious feeling of fear!!! I came back to the Lord at 25, and since then my feelings about my parenting aren't lacking, because I'm not doing it alone, I parent with the Lord on my side and now we have 4 kids and I love it. However I'm always a work in progress for many other things I can feel not good enough for.  Alone we can't do it all But with Christ we can do ALL things. 

 {Rejection} Man this is a hard pill to swallow isn't it. This is one of the biggest things I struggle with. I'm always so afraid when I share a bit of me I'm going to be rejected, or when I share and idea that I'm going to be laughed out of the room. This blog right here is beyond scary for me... because of my fear of rejection. I have learned to take comfort in the FACT that Jesus will NEVER reject me, and will NEVER reject you either. 

{Failure} This is a HUGE one for me. I mean this one will tie me up in knots.. I will lose sleep and lose hair over this. You know the saying you never know if you don't try... well my thought is you'll never fail if you don't try. 
When Tim and I went to get married I was soooo scared. Not because we were getting married... but because I had failed once before. Yes I was divorced, and I was so scared about failing again. It was so hard to face my family the first time to say that the marriage didn't work, and that we were getting divorced, even though he had broken our marriage vows, I still like a failure because we had 2 sons who were now the products of divorce, and in that divorce he had abandoned them. What if I picked the wrong guy to marry this time around?? What if he leaves?? What if he cheats?? what if?? what if?? 
The fear of failure leads you down the rocky path of what ifs.. at some point we need to stop and say {WHAT IF IT'S ALL OK??} What if it's all in God's plan?? What if failing is in God's plan to make us stronger?? What if failing is to teach us how to persevere?? What if we succeed? 
Jonah was afraid to fail... once he was released from the whale, he went into Ninevah and did what was asked of him, and he succeeded in sharing the Lord with the city, and showing them the error of their ways and saving them from the wrath of the Lord. {by the way... he did it all with the Lord by his side.. not alone} 

That verse right there is one I live by always... it's one that my family recites often, because so often our lives are dictated by our fears.. 
It's time for us to break free. 

have a great week!! 
If you need any prayers, or have any thoughts please post a comment here. I would love to read them and get to know who is reading this!!