“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind.” –2 Timothy 1:7
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in You” –Psalm 56:3
Here are a couple of questions I received when I started telling people I was going to South Africa:
“Aren’t you scared?”
“It’s not safe; Why would you go?”
“Why would you go someplace so unknown?”
If I’m being honest, I am a very anxious human who second guesses everything and my brain is constantly on go. I love a good pros and cons list and the facts are the facts. I have very real fears about a lot of things in this world and if it’s not safe, then the answer is “no thanks”. I love my comfort so the answer to the “are you scared?” question was definitely yes.
These past couple of years I have faced changes that I wasn’t quite ready to handle on my own, and I most definitely was terrified. At one point during all of these changes (and the fear and anxiety that came along with it), my brain couldn’t handle it all anymore, and I told myself that I was done with big changes. I decided that I didn’t want to be scared anymore, so I quit doing hard things that brought along this feeling.
But then I remembered the verses above that fear is not from God, but from the world. Anytime I have fear, I remember the trust that I have in the Lord. Being real, this is something that I am constantly learning and struggling with daily. But the Lord has proved His faithfulness over and over in my life that leaves no reason to NOT trust Him.
The Lord calls His followers to love others, care for His people, and serve Him. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, no questions asked. He’s given me this purpose for my life and fear has no place in His plan for me.
My prayer is now constantly “these hands are yours, teach them to serve as you please.”
Now instead of running away from scary situations, I face them head on. Maybe with a little fear, but never enough to make me run.
