Toss Fear Aside

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

Have you every thought “I’m tired of worrying yet you can’t seem to stop”?  Maybe the worry is whether or not you have enough money to pay the bills.  Maybe the worry about your aging parents.  Maybe the worry is about your children and the decisions they will make.  I am tired of worrying about (fill in the blank).

Worry is due to FEAR!  I feel like I have had fear since my early teens.  Fear of rejection. Fear of failing.  Fear of success.  Fear of not being good enough.  Fear of being alone.  I stuffed the feelings and moved forward in my career.  Fear surfaced when I made mistakes or when I was about to make a change personally or professionally.  Somewhere along the way, I started to believe that fear was just a fact of life and I could do nothing to change it.  I started to believe that I was alone with my fears.

How wrong I was!

When I started truly believing that God had a plan for me and he was in control, the worry subsided.  Notice I didn’t say go away because those evil gremlins try to rear their heads when I least expect it.  We can decide though what we want to with with our fears.  Here are some truths:

 

Truth #1: Other people do worry; they just don’t talk about it or let it consume their lives

Truth #2: Worry and fear must be a normal because God tells us not to, over 100 times in the Bible.

Truth #3: God doesn’t just tell us not to worry or fear, He tells us what to do when we do!

 

 

Picture your worry as a ball.  What do you want to do with the ball?  Do you want to toss it or do you want to hold on to it? No, we aren’t going to have a game of catch because we truly want to rid ourselves of the fear that is holding us back.

Let’s toss the worry (ball) to God and let him handle it.  As we do that, let’s ask for peace – not a solution and thank him for taking care of things in the past.  How does that feel?  Do you feel relief?  Try that with each worry that you have today and see what happens.

Each time that we do this, we strengthen our faith and our ability to decide what to do when hard times come.  It allows us to see that we can either control the fear or let the fear control us.  Which way would you prefer to live?

Share your thoughts with us.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!