to those who are afraid

image source: freeimages.com/Randall Hop

My mother and I both struggle with fear. It's a family thing. A habitual thing. A stronghold thing. I didn't realise how much fear was threaded into my way of doing life until I met my husband. My husband (and his family, too, for that matter) are not at all fearful people. Fear is just not a factor in their lives. For me? Fear interferes with a lot of my decisions, affects the way I view myself and the world and often keeps me in a place of torment, wondering at all the 'what-ifs' that could befall me. So far, it has been 'my thing'.

You know, we all have them.

Thankfully, God is committed to my care.
Slowly, I am being delivered from fear. So is my mum.
Together, we are realising some things about fear and I thought I would pass them on to benefit those of you who struggle with fearful thoughts, too. In the coming posts I am going to share some thoughts on how to deal with fear and worry in our lives.

Fear is a powerful emotion, but it is not something that needs to dominate us. The emotion of fear carries a very specific purpose and is designed to take up only a very small place in our life: fear is very useful for when we find ourselves in a dangerous situation. If we are chased by a lion, we want to feel afraid. Fear sharpens our bodies, sends adrenaline to our systems and enables us to run or fight or hide when we are in danger.

The emotion of fear, however, is not designed for every day life.

Out of context, fear cripples us. If we perceive danger in our daily life (for example, we are worried that bad things might happen to those we love, or we worry what people are thinking of us or if we are going to succeed at the things we have been called to do) we are not going to live our best lives. Instead, we are going to be uptight, fighting for control and unable to enter the rest that God intends for His people.

We were not created for fear. We were made for love. For confidence. For productivity.
God is committed to bringing each of us to a personal place of freedom and revelation knowledge so that we no longer live lives of fear.

Be encouraged, because this seeming-giant in your life does not have the power you think it does. You can overcome your worries. You can learn to recognise fear for what it is: lying messages designed to rob you of your peace. And you can take back control of your life and live as God intended you to live: free.

This is the first installment on a series of fear that I will be doing on this blog. Check back in the coming days for more on fear and how to take back control of a worried, fretting mind.