This is a little personal for my third day of having a blog. But it's REAL life.
What is the thing in your life that holds you back from being effective, achieving your destiny, and living in the freedom given by Christ's forgiveness? For me, it was fear. I experienced so much psychological warfare about fear. Fear of many things... sickness, death, someone I loved dying suddenly, not being on the right path, never being an effective follower of Christ, etc. All fears that many of us have. Let me tell you... I dealt and struggled with fear for at least 6 years. It has contributed to anxiety and inability to hear from God at times since I was so stuck on "cherishing" my fear. Yep. It was almost like fear sat on the throne in my life. At first I tried to conceal it, even from the ones that love me most. God has since shown me "happy masks" are not good for me; being honest and real is totally where freedom lies. Many times, God led me through tough situations, even a close encounter with death (plane incident), and proved faithful to me. (On July 4, 2006?, my parents and my husband and I were flying in a 6-seater plane. Dad was the pilot. We got sent into a storm by air traffic control and many times saw the trees in our windshield. I was never so happy to step on the ground of Louisiana that day). Step by step God is cutting through the chains of fear. I strive to not let fear make my decisions. And something I have learned so clearly through this experience: when God is trying to refine you and encourage you to let something go, He will replace it with something much better. For me, He is replacing it with trust in Him and awe/fear in Him alone. I think it will be a life process. Thank goodness it not about perfection, it is about the journey and our intent (a thought told to me by my wise husband). I hope and pray that fear no longer will rule in my life. I also hope that you will begin to see what negative thing it is in your life that holds you back from you being your best. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Let go of the yoke of slavery!
Loved reading this Heather! Thanks for being so open and sharing what God has been doing in your life. What an encouragement...and so refreshing to see someone write about "real life". Love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! Fear is just too common. I think that mediocrity is both the fear of failure and the fear of success. Considering that God tells us that lukewarmth gets us spit out, fear has no place in our lives!
ReplyDeleteWell put! Fear has been present in my life for as long as I can remember. I have found that what makes fear ten times worse is when I try desperately to expel "it." And by "it," I mean me. That part of me that I hate-that part that cares so much about failing.
ReplyDeleteThe fear is bad enough, but I end up spiraling downward by convincing myself that I shouldn't ever feel it. I've found freedom at times by acknowledging the fear's existence and being ok with it hanging around. And when I do, it seems to lose much of its power and intensity as a result.
But, sometimes fear still grips me. I think I still have a great, great, great deal to learn about surrendering everything to God. I don't even have a clue where to start! Hopefully I'll get another 30 years to figure it out! Thanks for bloggin!