How to stop being afaid

"I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! (Luke 12:4-5 NASB)

Jesus knew His disciples would face persecution. He knew they would live under the constant threat of death. He knew that some of them would die horrific deaths because of their faith in Him.  He knew what they would face, and He told them, so they wouldn't be surprised. I love that about Him. 

God knows everything we will face and nothing takes Him by surprise. Often, He gives us a heads-up about what is coming, so we won't be surprised, either. I love that about Him, too. The "uneasy feeling" of trouble coming? That's not a sixth sense.  It's God, preparing us for what's ahead.

He knows about the terrible diagnosis we will hear when the tests come back. He knows about the loved one who goes astray, the husband who leaves, the wife who has an affair, the lost job, the financial crisis. He knows.

What is even more precious to me is that He knows about our fear. He knows that the thought of a trial is often worse than the trial itself. I look back on some of the hardest times of my life. At the beginning, I was scared out of my mind. Looking back now, I see those times as some of the most precious of my life. Why? Because I didn't go it alone. God was with me every step of the way through. My fear was pointless, a wasted exercise in futility.

"Fear not" is angel talk. That's what they always say to us when they come. I wish we could grasp "fear not" and hold on to it. We don't have to be afraid, because we are not going it alone. 

 Fear not is God-talk, too. "Don't be afraid," Jesus was saying. Even if someone threatens to kill you, even if they do kill you, I've got this, He told his disciples. Being killed is not the worst thing that could happen. Going to hell is the worst thing. Everything else pales in comparison.

It's time we got our fear straight. We are full of so many fears. We fear rejection, failure, loss, disease, pain, suffering, death. We fear, so we live our lives trying to avoid the very thing we fear. 

I used to do that. Finally, I got it. When Jesus said "don't be afraid," He meant it. I don't have to be afraid.  I can choose something different. I can choose fearlessness. 

So I did.

I stopped being afraid. 

I'm not perfect at it. I still struggle with it. But mostly, I'm done with it. 

Experience has taught me that there is nothing that will ever come my way that God cannot handle. He's got this life of mine. Even when I mess up, He's got it.

I am in expert hands, and you can be, too.

Make a choice. Change your life. Give your fear away to the One who abolishes fear and be done with fear. You will love how knowing without a doubt that God is in control of your life opens up your possibilities. Nothing is too hard for Him, so nothing is too hard for you.

It is life-changing.

Why not be done with fear? How? Give your fear to God and embrace what He gives instead.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; 

but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

     (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV)

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God of all power, help me to be done with fear today. Replace my fear with You power, Your love, and a sound mind that comes only from You. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

True Courage

For some people, climbing into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber is not hard. If it needs to be done to heal the wound, they do it. They are not afraid and, aside from the inconvenience of five-day-a-week treatments, it's not really a big deal.

For one very sweet, gentle woman, however, that chamber opening was as frightening as the deepest, darkest chasm. She wasn't just afraid, she was terrified. The problem was that she had a wound that wouldn't heal. It finally became clear that it would take hyperbaric oxygen treatments to close it, and that's when her true colors became apparent. 

That first day, as we prepared her to roll into the chamber, she kept her eyes tightly shut. My first thought was that the lights were shining in her eyes and bothering her, so I asked. "Are the lights bothering you?"  She just shook her head. Not to be deterred, I delved a little deeper. "If the lights aren't bothering you, why do you have your eyes shut?" I asked. "I'm scared to death and I'm praying," was the quiet reply. Oh. All I could think of to say was, "Good. Keep praying."  She never opened her eyes. 

The nurses rolled her stretcher into the chamber, she stayed her full treatment time of 80 minutes, and we rolled her out. Eyes still shut. As I rested my stethoscope on her chest, with eyes still tightly shut, she asked, "is it over yet?"  I assured her it was - for today, but reminded her that she would have treatments five days a week, and would likely need thirty or forty treatments. Big tears filled her eyes, but she just nodded. 

I didn't really expect to see her the next day. The enormity of her fear was so overwhelming that I couldn't imagine her climbing on that stretcher and going another round. The next day she was back and right on time. It was the same thing all over again. She was terrified, never opened her eyes, and prayed the entire time. The answer to those prayers brought her through another treatment. The next day, and the day after that, and the next we repeated the same scene. Terrified, praying, and getting her treatments anyway, she kept right on coming. 

Before the wound healed, she had a total of 31 terrifying treatments.  She never stopped being afraid of the chamber, but she never let being afraid keep her from doing what must be done, and at the end of her trial, her wound was healed. She was the most courageous woman I have ever known. 

Most of us, in a situation where we were that afraid, would bail out. I have never seen anyone who walked on through their fear to that degree before, but I can tell you this, watching her has changed me. I'm ashamed of the times I've let shyness or uncertainty keep me from doing something I know I should do. I'm mortified of the times I've held back due to fear when that sweet woman faced abject terror every day, did battle with her demons, and never held back. She saw what had to be done and she did it. If you ask her, she would laugh at a description of her as courageous, but that's true courage, being afraid and forging ahead anyway. 

That's what faith is, too. She understood Who would get her through her trial and she understood how to get His strength. She never stopped prayed, and her Lord never let her down. The challenge for the rest of is to rise to this sweet lady's level. Face our fears, cling to our Savior, and keep going.